STATEMENT 


OF  THE 


NATIVES  OF  KORYTSA  AND  KOLONIA 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  PAN-EPIROTIC  UNION 
IN  AMERICA 


IN 


REPLY  TO  THE  DECLARATION  OF 
THE   PAN-ALBANIAN  FEDERATION 

IN  AMERICA 


DECEMBER    •     1919 


BY 

THE  PAN-EPIROTIC  UNION  IN  AMERICA 

7  WATER  STREET,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


*£rt 


Js,E 


CHAIRMAN   OF   THE   PEACE   CONFERENCE 
PARIS,  FRANCE 

In  the  month  of  May  we  addressed  to  your  Excellency  a  memoran- 
dum stating  the  reasons  for  which  we  believed  that  the  Districts  of 
Korytsa  and  Kolonia  should  be  united  with  Greece.1  That  memoran- 
dum was  signed  by  nearly  2,000  natives  of  those  Districts,  residents 
of  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  Pan-Albanian  Federation  in  America  has  replied  a  few 
months  later,  accusing  us  of  having  deliberately  misstated  the  case  of 
the  Districts  of  Korytsa  and  Kolonia.  We  ask,  therefore,  the  indul- 
gence of  the  Peace  Conference  to  reply  to  those  accusations  briefly: 

(1)  We  are  attacked  because  in  our  memorandum  of  May  we 
stated  that  "the  Christian  population  of  those  Districts  constitutes 
the  object  of  the  Peace  Delegation's  concern."  In  that  statement  the 
Christian  Epirotes  were  far  from  advocating  that  the  interests  of 
Mohammedans  should  be  sacrificed  to  the  Christian  Epirotes.  We 
have  merely  stated  the  opinion  already  expressed  at  the  Peace  Con- 
ference that  whenever  Christians  and  Moslems  are  intermixed  in 
nearly  equal  numbers  and  a  decision  is  to  be  made  as  to  who  should 
have  the  right  of  governing  the  other,  it  has  always  followed  the 
policy  of  placing  the  Moslems  under  the  government  of  Christians, 
rather  than  of  placing  the  Christians  under  Moslem  rule. 

(2)  We  regret  that  the  Albanian  memorandum  conveys  the 
impression  that  our  statement  concerning  the  sentiments  of  the  47,827 
Christians  in  Korytsa  and  Kolonia  was  based  solely  on  "letters  that 
are  supposed  to  have  been  received  from  people  living  in  those 
Districts,  and  upon  fantastical  school  statistics  in  regard  to  the  Dis- 
trict of  Korytsa."  2 

Our  memorandum  of  last  May  asks  the  Peace  Conference  to  refer 
to  the  French  Military  Governor  of  Korytsa  and  receive  from  him 

1  See  Appendix  1. 

2  See  Appendix  2. 


72076 


an  authentic  statement  as  to  the  national  sentiments  of  the  Christians 
under  French  Administration  in  Korytsa. 

May  we,  however,  adduce  a  few  more  proofs  of  the  Hellenic 
sentiments  of  the  people  of  that  District? 

(a)  The  testimony  of  foreigners  who  have  visited  the  Sandjak 
of  Korytsa : 

Arnold  Toynbee,  of  King's  College,  London,  in  his  "Greek 
Policies  Since  1883,"  writes: 

"Greek  nationalism  is  not  an  artificial  conception  of  theorists, 
but  a  real  force  which  impels  all  fragments  of  Greek-speaking  popu- 
lations to  make  sustained  efforts  towards  political  union  within  the 
national  state.  The  most  striking  example  of  this  attractive  power 
is  afforded  by  the  problem  of  Epirus  (Himarra,  Argyrocastro, 
Korytsa."    (Page  26.) 

Rene  Puaux,  in  La  Malheureuse  Epire,  1913,  writes: 

"Ten  thousand  Epirotes,  refugees,  have  arrived  here  (Corfu). 
The  Albanians  have  burned  their  homes. 

"But  after  the  fall  of  Jannina,  hope  has  filled  their  hearts.  In  the 
future  the  Greek  Province  of  Epirus  will  be  free.  Under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Greek  flag,  they  will  return  to  Parga,  Senitsa,  Nivitsa, 
Korytsa." 

(b)  The  revolution  in  1914  against  Albania: 

"The  rising  which  is  now  embarrassing  Prince  William  and  is 
causing  him  to  contemplate  taking  the  field  at  the  head  of  an  Albanian 
Army  was  only  to  be  expected.  The  Epirotes  are  behaving  in  the 
manner  that  could  confidently  have  been  predicted."  Spectator, 
London,  April  11,  1911. 

"The  250,000  Greeks  who  were  included  in  the  new  Albania  by 
the  Powers  are  reported  in  revolt.  The  Greeks  of  Epirus  expected 
to  be  united  with  their  fatherland  under  the  treaty  parceling  out  the 
Balkan  territory  and  were  disappointed,  so  they  propose  fighting 
to  bring  Greek  Epirus  under  the  Greek  flag.  Reports  in  the  European 
press  say  that  they  hold  the  important  town  of  Korytsa."  The  Liter- 
ary Digest,  April  18, 1914. 

2 


In  a  lecture  delivered  in  Morley  Hall,  January  7,  1913,  entitled 
"Northern  Epirus  in  1913,"  Colonel  Murray,  A.M.,C.B.,N.V.O.,  said: 

"The  Premeti  and  Argyrocastro  battalions  are  composed  of  as 
fine  a  body  of  fighting  men  as  there  are  in  Europe. 

"There  are  five  thousand  well-trained  men  of  the  Sacred  Legion 
in  the  Korytsa  District  alone,  and  even  if  they  do  not  get  enough  help 
from  other  parts  of  Epirus,  they  are  numerous  and  strong  enough 
with  their  local  knowledge  of  the  country  to  hold  their  own  against 
the  Albanian  force  which  could  reach  them  from  Berat.  We  may 
depend  upon  it  that  if  the  Epirotes  are  forced  to  fight,  they  will  fight 
to  a  finish." 

(c)  Other  witnesses:  The  war  correspondents  of  the  great 
European  Dailies,  Franz  Jensen,  of  the  Matin;  Rene  Puaux,  of  the 
Temps;  Magrini,  of  the  Secolo;  Engnath,  of  the  Koelnische  Zeitung; 
Herr  Tschentcher,  of  the  Berlin  Central  Press;  Captain  Trapman,  of 
the  Daily  Telegraph;  C.  S.  Butler,  of  the  Daily  Mail,  etc.1 

(3)  We  are  accused  of  having  given  "fantastical  school  statis- 
tics." We  give  the  school  statistics  of  foreigners  generally  recognized 
as  Balkan  authorities,  as  well  as  of  natives  of  Epirus.2 

(a)  Amadori  Virgili,  in  La  Questione  Rumeliota  e  la  Politica 
Italiana,  published  by  the  Institute  Geographico  de  Agostini,  Rome, 
1908,  gives  for  the  Sandjak  of  Korytsa  51  Greek  schools,  with  10,395 
Greek  scholars,  and  only  one  Albanian  school,  with  60  Albanian 
scholars.* 

Mr.  C.  S.  Butler  wrote  in  the  Manchester  Guardian  of  September 
30, 1914: 

"At  Korytsa,  where  my  visit  coincided  with  that  of  the  Greek  Crown 
Prince  in  May  of  last  year  (1913),  I  witnessed  a  parade  of  2,125  Greek 
school  children  of  both  sexes  from  five  years  up  to  sixteen,  who 
beamed  with  joy  and  pride  as  they  filed  past  the  Prince,  cheering 
and  waving  their  little  Greek  flags.  The  same  day  I  witnessed  an 
enthusiastic  parade  of  the  women  of  the  town,  foremost  among  whom 
I  noticed  my  own  hostess,  who  habitually  speaks  Albanian  in  her 
own  home.  I  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  these  1900  women,  all  of 
whom  were  respectable  middle-class  matrons,  were  secretly  pining 

1  See  Appendix  2. 

2  See  Appendix  3. 

3  See  Appendix  3. 


for  the  delights  of  Albanian  rule  and  were  driven  to  this  demonstra- 
tion at  the  point  of  the  Greek  bayonet.  Indeed,  I  can  testify  that  it 
almost  required  a  bayonet  to  persuade  them  to  disperse  after  the 
celebration.  And  yet,  we  have  been  assured  for  years  by  Miss  Dur- 
ham and  other  Albanian  sympathizers,  that  Korytsa  is  the  intellectual 
centre  of  the  Albanian  race !  The  only  traces  of  Albanian  educational 
movement  I  was  able  to  discover  there  were  a  small  Albanian  printing 
press,  established  under  foreign  encouragement  some  years  ago,  and 
now  no  longer  in  operation,  and  an  Albanian  school  for  girls, 
founded  and  carried  on  by  American  missionaries,  with  some  sixty 
pupils,  recruited  from  the  whole  Province  of  Korytsa." 

Colonel  Murray,  in  his  lecture  which  we  have  mentioned  above, 
said: 

"I  shall  never  forget  standing  at  Korytsa,  side  by  side  with  one  of 
the  International  Commissioners,  who  shall  be  nameless,  and  who 
was  watching  the  scene  passing  in  the  street  below  us.  A  procession 
was  going  by  the  house  in  the  midst  of  which  were  the  girls  of  the 
school,  waving  their  flags  and  singing  national  songs  of  liberty,  when 
one  girl  stopped  before  the  house  and  held  up  a  scroll  on  which  she 
had  embroidered  with  great  labor  in  letters  of  gold  the  words,  'Enosis 
e  Thanatos,'  Union  or  Death.  She  just  held  up  the  scroll  for  us  to  see, 
and  I  never  can  forget  the  sweet,  gentle,  upturned  face,  majestic  in 
its  childishness,  and  beautiful  in  its  innocence,  and  yet  expressive  of 
her  brave  determination  to  suffer,  if  required  to  do  so,  for  hearth  and 
home  and  nationality  and  faith.  I  could  see  the  tears  stand  in  the 
diplomatist's  eyes  as  he  turned  away  with  the  words,  'I  can  stand 
this  no  longer.  If  I  look  any  more  I  shall  break  down  and  be  accused 
of  being  a  Philhellene.'   Even  diplomacy  has  its  human  side." 

(4)  We  are  accused  of  attempts  to  minimize  the  numbers  of  the 
Albanians  in  the  United  States.  The  Albanian  Federation,  in  all  its 
memoranda  which  have  come  to  our  attention,  declares  that  the 
number  of  Albanians  in  the  United  States  is  from  60,000  to  70,000. 
Mr.  C.  Chekrezi,  the  editor  of  a  book  "Albania,"  declares  that  the 
number  of  Albanians  in  the  United  States  is  40,000.  Mr.  Chekrezi  is 
an  executive  officer  of  the  Albanian  Federation  in  America. 


The  numbers  given  by  the  Albanian  Federation,  as  well  as  by  Mr. 
Chekrezi,  are  altogether  exaggerated.  We  base  this  statement  upon 
official  information : 

(a)  The  United  States  census  of  1910,  in  stating  the  number  of 
aliens  in  the  country,  gives  only  2,235  Albanians.  That  census  was 
taken  on  the  basis  of  mother  tongue.  It  is  well  known  that  practically 
all  the  Northern  Epirotes  use  an  Albanian  patois  as  their  mother 
tongue.  It  is,  therefore,  not  unlikely  that  many  Greek  Epirotes  are 
included  in  the  number  2,235,  reported  to  constitute  the  Albanian 
nationality  in  the  United  States  in  1910. 

(b)  Since  1910,  the  Immigration  Bureau  has  no  records  of 
Albanian  nationality  having  entered  the  United  States. 

The  Albanian  Federation,  in  its  memorandum  under  consider- 
ation, explains  the  absence  of  the  Albanian  nationality  in  the  records 
of  the  Immigration  Bureau  in  this  manner: 

"The  largest  number  of  Albanian  immigrants  came  to  the  United 
States  since  the  occupation  of  Southern  Albania,  including  Northern 
Epirus,  by  the  Greek  troops,  in  1912,  and  especially  after  the  fatal 
year  of  1914,  when  fugitives  and  refugees  arrived  in  America." 

"Moreover,  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  that  in  its 
records  there  is  no  Albanian  nationality  is  easily  explained  by  the 
fact  that  the  immigration  authorities  listed  the  Albanians  as  Ottoman 
subjects,  the  United  States  having  never  had  an  occasion  of  recogniz- 
ing the  short-lived  independent  State  of  Albania." 

In  other  words,  the  Albanian  Federation  in  America  admits  that 
until  1910  there  were  no  more  than  2,235  Albanians  in  the  United 
States;  that  the  additional  "68,000"  Albanians  now  here  have  entered 
the  country  since  1912;  and  that  they  are  "listed  as  Ottoman  subjects." 

We  have  applied  to  the  Immigration  Bureau  at  Washington.  The 
authorities  were  very  kind  to  furnish  us  with  the  following  table, 
entitled  Immigration  from  Turkey  (European  and  Asiatic)  from  1912 
to  1919: 


1912 


Bulg. 

Armen.      and  Serb. 


Europe 
Asia 


394 
4,242 


3,146 
42 


Greek 

7,134 
2,147 


Hebrew       Roum. 

760  135 

621  5 


Syrian 

64 

4,654 


Other 

Turkiih       Peoples 


368 
796 


Total  by 

Races         19,766 


5,683       36,374        6,523  313         21,901        5,188 


2,580 
281 


6,797 


Total 

14,481 
12,788 


Total 

4,636 

3,188 

9,281 

1,381 

140 

4,718 

1,164 

2,861 

27,269 

1913 

Europe 
Asia 

442 

7,369 

1,589 
38 

9,374 

5,192 

1,007 
1,046 

101 
1 

48 
8,224 

303 

1,385 

1,264 
701 

14,128 
23,955 

Total 

7,811 

1,627 

14,566 

2,053 

102 

8,272 

1,688 

1,965 

38,083 

1914 

Europe 
Asia 

353 

6,097 

782 
37 

3,631 
4,946 

1,408 
844 

57 
7 

50 

7,772 

504 
1,683 

1,414 
330 

8,199 
21,716 

Total 

6,450 

819 

8,577 

2,252 

64 

7,822 

2,187 

1,744 

29.915 

1915 

Europe 
Asia 

67 
526 

39 
5 

647 

1,460 

156 
324 

7 

8 
1,036 

25 
84 

59 
108 

1,008 
3,543 

Total 

593 

44 

2,107 

480 

7 

1,044 

109 

167 

4,551 

1916 

Europe 
Asia 

28 
112 



229 
1,279 

23 
235 



30 

8 
7 

25 
7 

313 
1,670 

Total 

140 



1,508 

258 

— 

30 

15 

32 

1,983 

1917 

Europe 

Asia 

12 
83 

3 
1 

111 
205 

12 
82 

— 

5 

12 
10 

2 

7 

152 
393 

Total 

95 

4 

316 

94 

— 

5 

22 

9 

545 

1918 

Europe 
Asia 

15 
13 

__ 

9 
7 

2 

— 

8 

3 

11 

25 
44 

Total 

28 



16 

2 

— 

8 

3 

11 

58 

1919 

Europe 
Asia 

4 
9 



2 
1 

3 

— 

2 

_^__ 

1 

7 

10 
19 

Total 

13 



3 

3 

— 

2 



8 

29 

It  is  easily  seen  that  from  1912  to  1919  the  total  number  of  Turks 
who  entered  the  United  States  is  5,188,  of  whom  only  1,220  came  from 
European  Turkey.  It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  state  that  all  the  Albani- 
ans come  from  European  Turkey.  We  have,  then,  2,235  Albanians 
until  1916,  and  1,220  Turks  from  Europe  until  1919,  or  a  total  of 
3,455.  It  is  readily  recognized  that  neither  the  United  States  census 
of  1910  nor  the  Immigration  Bureau  at  Washington  could  have  com- 
mitted such  an  enormous  error  of  reporting  nearly  4,000  Albanians 
in  lieu  of  70,000  which  are  reported  by  the  Albanian  Federation  in 
America. 


But  the  memorandum  of  the  Albanian  Federation  in  America 
tries  to  give  an  additional  explanation  for  the  absence  of  the  70,000 
Albanians  in  the  records  of  the  Immigration  authorities  in  the  United 
States.  It  asserts  that  the  Christian  Albanians  "fugitives  and 
refugees"  came  to  this  country  "with  Greek  passports."  This  asser- 
tion is  altogether  absurd.  "Refugees  and  fugitives"  fleeing  the  Greeks 
could  not  equip  themselves  with  "Greek  passports." 

6 


The  Albanian  Federation  refers  the  Peace  Delegates  to  the  "statis- 
tics of  registration  for  the  selective  draft  conducted  in  June,  1917, 
by  the  United  States  Government." 

The  following  is  a  letter  from  the  Adjutant  General's  Office  at 
Washington,  in  reply  to  our  inquiry  whether  the  number  of  Alban- 
ians registered  under  the  War  Act  (Selective  Draft)  of  June,  1917, 
could  be  determined: 

"The  Adjutant  General's  Office 

Room  248,  December  17, 1919 
"Dear  Mr.  Cassavetes: 

"There  is  no  data  at  present  available  from  which  a  statement 
can  be  made  showing  the  number  of  Albanians  who  registered  or 
were  inducted  under  the  Act  of  1917,  or  who  registered  during  the 
period  of  the  war.  Such  information  may  possibly  be  included  in 
the  third  and  final  report  which  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printers 
and  is  not  accessible. 

"The  A.  G.  0.  —  War  Dept." 

It  is  so  curious  that  the  Albanian  memorandum  should  refer 
us  for  accurate  information  on  the  numbers  of  Albanians  in  the 
United  States  to  the  Adjutant  General's  office.  It  is  evident  from  the 
letter  of  the  Adjutant  General  that  the  Albanian  Federation  could 
not  have  had  any  information  from  that  office.  In  this  case  also, 
the  insincerity  of*  the  Albanian  memorandum  becomes  very  clear. 

The  United  States  Treasury  Department  has  been  kind  to  inform 
us  that  the  number  of  Albanians  in  this  Country  is  about  4,000/  The 
Treasury  Department  has  secured  its  information  in  connection  with 
the  Liberty  Loan  Drives  from  the  Albanian  societies  in  America. 

With  the  United  States  Census  figures,  with  the  figures  of  the 
United  States  Immigration  Bureau,  and  those  of  the  United  States 
Treasury  Department,  we  believe  our  statement  that  the  Albanian 
Federation  in  America  deliberately  misrepresents  facts,  is  correct. 
But  in  order  that  the  Peace  Conference  may  have  every  available 
evidence  of  the  unfair  methods  and  the  undignified  manner  in  which 
the  Albanian  propaganda  is  attempting  to  misrepresent  the  sentiment 

1  In  reply  to  a  letter  from  us  to  the  Treasury  Department  (Liberty  Loan  Division),  we  have 
received  the  following  note  on  December  3, 1919:  "Albanians — Total  in  United  States  about  4,000. 
Largest  number  in  Massachusetts  about  1,600." 


of  our  people  of  Korytsa  and  Kolonia,  we  beg  leave  to  state  that  we 
have  ourselves  carried  out  an  investigation,  the  result  of  which  agrees 
completely  with  the  numbers  of  Albanians  given  by  the  official  United 
States  authorities. 

In  the  New  York  Herald  (Paris  edition  of  April  1,  1919),  the 
following  statement  was  issued  by  the  Albanian  Delegation  at 
Paris: 

"The  following  despatch  has  been  cabled  from  Boston  by  the 
Orthodox  Albanian  Communities  settled  throughout  the  United 
States.  It  formulates  the  aspiration  of  all  the  Albanian  Christians  to 
be  attached  politically  to  the  Albanian  State: 

To  Mehmed  Konitza,  Grand  Hotel,  Paris. 

Boston,  Saturday. — Please  communicate  to  President  Wilson,  Barone 
Sonnine  and  Premiers  Lloyd  George  and  Clemenceau  the  following 
resolution  unanimously  passed  on  March  16  by  the  Holy  Council  of 
the  Albanian  Orthodox  Church  of  America  and  signed  by  the  Russian 
Archbishop,  Alexander  Bew,  Albanian  clergy  and  124  Orthodox  Chris- 
tian delegates,  natives  of  South  Albania,  now  residing  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada : 

"The  undersigned  clergymen  and  laymen,  delegates  representing 
the  following  fifty-two  Orthodox  Albanian  churches  and  communi- 
ties of  the  United  States:  Boston,  Lynn,  Peabody,  Quincy,  Brockton, 
Taunton,  Worcester,  Southbridge,  Springfield,  Fitchburg,  Hudson, 
Marlboro,  Framingham,  Natick,  Woonsocket,  Lonsdale,  Central  Falls, 
Biddeford,  Saco,  Lewiston,  Bath,  New  Bedford,  Albany,  Rochester, 
Syracuse,  Buffalo,  New  York,  Manchester,  Concord,  Laconia,  Tilton, 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Milwaukee,  Seattle,  Detroit,  Philadelphia,  Brad- 
dock,  Pittsburgh,  New  Florence,  Portsmouth,  Atlantic  City,  Akron, 
Youngstown,  Niles,  Barberton,  Waterbury,  Bridgeport,  Grosvenor- 
dale,  Jamestown,  Lowell,  Cleveland,  Rochdale,  and  representatives 
of  the  Roumanian  Church,  all  of  them  natives  of  Southern  Albania, 
assembled  in  convention  under  the  presidency  of  His  Grace  the 
Russian  Archbishop  of  North  America,  Alexander,  for  the  purpose 
of  the  election  of  an  Albanian  Orthodox  Bishop,  protest  with  indig- 
nation against  the  absurd  allegation  of  M.  Venizelos  that  the  Ortho- 
dox Albanians  of  Southern  Albania  favor  union  with  Greece. 
( Signed )     Kol  Tromara.'  " 

8 


We  have  written  to  the  Mayors  of  the  cities  and  towns  enumerated 
above  and  have  asked  from  them  a  statement  as  to  the  number  of 
Albanians.  We  have  also  asked  whether  there  were  any  Albanian 
"communities"  or  churches,  or  schools  in  the  above-cited  cities.  The 
following  table  contains  the  results  of  that  investigation.  The  orig- 
inal affidavits  have  been  sent  to  Paris  to  the  Greek  Epirotic  Delega- 
tion.1 We  hope  that  they  have  already  come  to  the  attention  of  the 
Peace  Conference. 

1  See  Appendix  4. 


NUMBER  OF  ALBANIANS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  ACCORDING  TO  AFFIDAVITS 

FROM  MAYORS  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  CITIES: » 

City  Christians    Moslems    Total    Communities    Churches    Schools 

Boston 100  50  150  1  1  0 

Lynn 35  15  50  0  0  0 

Peabody   40  12  52  0  0  0 

Quincy 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Brockton 45  15  60  0  0  0 

Taunton  20  0  20  0  0  0 

Worcester i70  80  250  1  1  0 

Southbridge 15  110  125  1  10 

Springfield 3  0  3  0  0  0 

Fitchburg 7  40  47  0  0  0 

Hudson )  „_ 

Marlboro }  35  0  35  0  0  0 

Framingham 90  10  100  0  0  0 

Natick 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Woonsocket  15  0  15  0  0  0 

Lonsdale 35  150  185  0  0  0 

Central  Falls 18  0  18  0  0  0 

££??.:::::::::::::::}  »  *>°  ™  •  •  • 

Lewiston 15  10  25  0  0  0 

Bath   20  15  35  0  0  0 

New  Bedford 390  10  400  1  1  0    . 

Albany 0  0  0  0  0  0. 

Rochester 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Syracuse 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Buffalo   40  5  45  0  0  0 

Laconia 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Tilton  0  0  0  0  0  0 

Chicago 0  0  0  0  0  0 

St.  Louis 45  105  150  0  0  0 

Milwaukee 45  19  64  0  0  0 

Seattle   53  0  53  0  0  0 

Detroit   33  70  103  0  0  0 

Philadelphia    45  450  495  1  1  0 

Braddock  0  80  80  0  0  0 

Pittsburgh 10  200  210  0  0  0 

New  Florence 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Portsmouth   0  0  0  0  0  0 

Atlantic  City 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Akron 60  20  80  0  0  0 

Youngstown 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Niles 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Barberton 35  10  45  0  0  0 

Waterbury 30  300  330  0  0  0 

Bridgeport 25  45  70  0  0  0 

Grosvenordale 0  60  60  0  0  0 

Jamestown 95  10  105  0  0  0 

Lowell 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Cleveland 32  2  34  0  0  0 

Rochdale 0  0  0  0  0  0 

New  York 0  0  0  0  0  0 

Manchester   120  10  130  0  0  0 

Concord 29  19  48  0  0  0 

Total    1,809  2,322  4,131  5  5  0 

1  See  samples  of  affidavits,  Appendix  4. 

10 


Our  independent  investigation  shows  that  the  number  of  the 
Albanians  in  the  36  most  important  centres  of  Albanians  in  the 
United  States  is  4,131.  It  must  be  stated  here  that  in  many  cities 
the  authorities  are  unable  to  discover  any  Albanians.  This  is  due 
to  the  insignificant  number  of  Albanians  there.  Often  the  number 
of  Albanians  does  not  rise  beyond  ten.  But  for  propaganda  pur- 
poses, the  Albanian  Federation  represents  even  such  small  colonies 
as  branches  of  the  Vatra,  and  denominates  them  "Albanian  Com- 
munities" with  the  purpose  of  misleading  the  Peace  Conference  to 
imagine  that  the  number  of  Albanians  there  is  considerable  if  they 
constitute  an  Albanian  Community. 

The  table  indicates  that  there  are  in  the  United  States  only  five 
Albanian  Greek  Orthodox  Churches.  The  cable  to  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence which  was  quoted  above  from  the  New  York  Herald  was  couched 
to  mislead  the  Delegates  to  the  Peace  Conference  to  believe  that  there 
were  52  Albanian  Greek  Orthodox  Churches  in  the  United  States.1 

The  Albanian  Greek  Orthodox  Churches  are  under  the  spiritual 
jurisdiction  of  the  Russian  Archbishop  of  New  York,  who  ordains  the 
Albanian  Greek  Orthodox  priests  in  America.  In  reply  to  a  letter 
addressed  by  us  to  the  Archbishop,  His  Grace  was  very  kind  to  send 
us  a  copy  of  the  "By-laws  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Archbishop  and 
Consistory  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Greek  Catholic  Church" — 1918, 
from  which  we  take  the  following  statement,  on  page  44: 

"ALBANIAN  ORTHODOX  CHURCHES  AND  CLERGY 

"Boston,  Mass.,  St.  George  Church, 

Rev.  F.  S.  Noli,  53  Clarendon  Street. 
Rev.  Joseph  Kondidi,  Ass't  of  Rector. 

"Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul  Church, 
Rev.  George  Sakelarius. 

"St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Rev.  N.  Czere  820  No.  12th  Street. 

"Worcester,  Mass.,  Church  of  the  Assumption  of  Holy  Virgin, 
Rev.  Pantelimon  Sinica,  P.  0.  Box  668." 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  statistics  taken  independently  of  the 
United  States  authorities,  based  upon  the  affidavits  of  the  Mayors  of 
the  various  cities  of  the  United  States,  which  have  been  reported  by 

1  See  Appendix  6. 

11 


the  Albanians  as  centres  of  Albanian  colonies,  agree  with  the  numbers 
of  Albanians  in  the  United  States  as  stated  in  the  Census  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  reports  of  the  Immigration  Bureau  and  of  the  Treasury 
Department.  It  is  evident  that  the  Albanian  Federation  in  America 
has  deliberately  exaggerated  the  numbers. 

(4)  The  Albanian  Federation  "Vatra"  challenges  us  to  make 
good  our  accusation  as  to  "what  kind  of  subsidies"  it  formerly  re- 
ceived from  Austria  and  now  receives  from  Italy.  We  admit  that 
we  are  not  in  a  position  to  state  the  "kind  of  subsidies,"  but  we  refer 
the  Peace  Conference  to  the  United  States  Department  of  Justice  for 
information  as  to  the  subsidies  which  the  "Vatra"  has  been  receiving 
from  the  sources  we  have  indicated.1 

15)  We  are  also  challenged  to  substantiate  our  accusation  that 
the  "Vatra"  is  carrying  on  a  proselytising  work  to  convert  the  Greek 
Epirotes  to  Albanian  nationalism.  Attached  we  give  a  few  affidavits 
of  Greek  Epirotes  who  have  been  promised  lucrative  positions  in  the 
Albanian  organization  in  order  to  win  them  to  the  Albanian  side.2 

(6)  We  deem  it  unnecessary  to  comment  upon  the  reported 
"3,000"  signatures  of  Orthodox  Albanians  which  have  been  attached 
to  the  Albanian  memorandum.  The  Albanian  Federation  has  con- 
cealed to  this  day  the  said  signatures.  We  are  accused  of  not  having 
given  publicity  to  the  signatures  of  our  last  memorandum.  The  ac- 
cusation is  utterly  false.  In  the  month  of  May,  we  mailed  500  copies 
to  the  leading  newspapers  and  periodicals  in  America,  England, 
France,  Italy,  and  Greece,  to  all  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  Congress,  to  the  State  Department  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  other  prominent  American  gentlemen.  So  far  as  we 
know,  we  could  not  give  a  wider  publicity  to  our  memorandum. 

More  than  three  months  have  elapsed  since  the  Albanian  memo- 
randum was  sent  to  the  Peace  Conference.  Nevertheless,  the  "3,000" 
signatures  have  not  become  available  to  us.  The  State  Department 
at  Washington  writes  that  it  cannot  find  such  signatures  in  its 
files8;  nor  has  any  important  newspaper  in  this  country  received 
them  as  it  appears  from  our  investigation.  Is  there  any  reason  for 
this  secrecy?  We  are  informed  that  the  signatures  consist  of  Chris- 

1  See  Appendix  5,  page  2,  paragraph  7  and  on. 

2  See  Appendix  6. 

3  See  Appendix  7. 

12 


tian  and  Christianized  Moslem  names.  Otherwise,  the  figure  "3,000" 
never  could  have  been  reached  depending  only  upon  the  Albanian 
Christians  from  Korytsa  and  Kolonia.  When  the  Albanian  Federa- 
tion will  publish  the  signatures,  we  shall  be  able  to  prove  that  in  this 
case  also,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "70,000  Albanians  in  the  United  States," 
the  Albanians  have  not  had  respect  for  truth. 

(7)  We  are  accused  of  having  procured  signatures  on  false  pre- 
tences. As  evidence  of  this,  the  memorandum  of  the  Albanians 
asserts  that  many  signatories  to  our  last  memorandum  have  pro- 
tested through  the  official  organ  of  the  Albanians,  the  "Dielli."  We 
are  constant  readers  of  the  "Dielli."  We  have  seen  only  one  protest 
for  two  Epirotes,  residing  in  Marlboro,  Massachusetts.  The  protest 
is  made  by  the  Albanian  society  of  Marlboro.  We  reproduce  the 
letter  of  the  Greek  Epirotic  Society  of  Marlboro,  Massachusetts,  in 
which  the  Society  explains  the  case  of  Messrs.  Michael  Charilaou 
and  Basil  Manos: 

"Hudson,  Mass., 

"August  5,  1919 

"Epirotic  Society, 

"  The  Voice  of  Epirus,' 

"Hudson,  Marlboro,  Mass. 

"National  Pan-Epirotic  Union, 
"Boston,  Mass. 

"We  wish  to  inform  you  about  the  following  matter :  A  few  months 
ago,  Mr.  Dedes  from  Clinton  asked  us  to  get  signatures  of  Korytseans, 
Koloneans  and  Leskovikians.  We  had  the  signatures  of  all  those  of 
Greek  sentiment,  among  whom  were  two,  namely,  Basil  Manos  and 
Michael  Charilaou  whom  we  did  not  find  home.  We  knew,  however, 
that  they  were  Greeks,  and  told  the  Committee  on  Signatures  to  add 
their  names.  Now,  that  these  two  gentlemen  have  seen  the  names  of 
those  who  have  signed  our  memorandum  published  daily  by  the 
"Dielli,"  and  have  seen  their  names  also  published,  either  on  account 
of  fear  of  the  Albanians,  or  an  account  of  change  of  sentiment,  they 
told  us  that  they  will  protest  through  the  "Dielli." 

"We  intend  to  publish  in  the  papers  and  explain  that  these  gentle- 
men will  cease  to  be  considered  Greeks  by  our  Society. 

"Respectfully, 

(Signed)  "Naoum  Golias" 

is  i 


We  challenge  the  Albanian  Federation  to  send  to  the  United  States 
Department  the  issues  of  the  "Dielli"  in  which  the  "numerous  letters 
of  protest"  have  appeared.1  As  to  the  case  of  Messrs.  Charilaou 
and  Manos,  we  believe  that  the  Peace  Conference  will  understand 
how  utterly  impossible  it  is  to  control  the  membership  of  our  union 
so  as  to  bar  out  any  Albanians  who  ask  to  sign  our  petitions  only 
in  order  to  deny  afterwards  that  they  have  signed  them  voluntarily, 
and  thus  place  the  other  signatures  under  suspicion.  It  is  remark- 
able that  out  of  nearly  2,000  signatures  only  2  have  been  mistaken. 

(8)  The  Albanian  memorandum  states  that  the  question  of  the 
schools  of  Korytsa  has  been  dealt  with  by  the  Albanians  in  a  previous 
memorandum  to  the  Peace  Conference.  This  memorandum  also 
has  been  kept  secret.  We  do  not  know  what  are  the  contents  of  that 
memorandum.  We  know,  however,  that  to-day,  under  French  ad- 
ministration, there  are  2,400  children  attending  the  Greek  Schools,  and 
only  200  attending  the  Albanian  school  of  Korytsa  alone.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  cable  received  on  December  5, 1919,  from  Mr.  Adamides, 
deputy  of  Korytsa,  for  the  Greek  Parliament  (1915),  and  delegate 
for  the  people  of  Korytsa  to  the  Peace  Conference: 
"Korytsa,  November  25,  1919 

"Pan-Epirotic  Union  in  America 
"Boston,  Mass. 

"The  Christian  inhabitants  of  Korytsa  are  indignant  at  the  news 
that  false  reports  have  been  circulated  under  the  form  of  'corre- 
spondence from  Korytsa,'  manufactured  by  certain  agents  inimical 
to  the  people  of  Korytsa,  and  finding  their  way  into  the  American 
press.  The  District  of  Korytsa  is  incontestably  Greek.  The  great 
evidence  of  the  Hellenic  sentiments  of  the  people  of  Korytsa  is  the 
number  of  the  Greek  scholars  attending  the  Greek  schools.  The 
number  of  the  Greek  scholars  attending  the  Greek  schools  is  2,400, 
whereas  the  number  of  Albanian  scholars  is  only  200,  the  latter 
being  the  children  of  Albanian  officials  serving  the  Albanian  Admin- 

1  The  Pan-Epirotic  Union  has  on  file  all  the  issues  of  the  "Dielli"  since  last  May.  We  find, 
on  investigation,  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  two  cases  mentioned  above,  the  signatories  to  our 
memorandum  of  last  May  reported  to  have  protested  against  us  in  letters  sent  to  the  Albanian 
Federation  are  ready  to  furnish  us  sworn  statements  declaring  that  they  have  never  sent  such 
letters  of  protest  to  the  Albanians,  and  the  letters  are  false.  The  number  of  protests  reported 
in  the  "Dielli"  are  only  32.  Two  of  them  alone  are  genuine.  As  soon  as  the  affidavits  arrive, 
we  shall  forward  them  to  the  Peace  Conference. 

14 


istration,  which  was  established  in  1916  for  political  reasons  by  the 
French  military  authorities.  The  Albanian  High  School  had  last 
year  26  students,  and  this  year  13,  although  it  spends  large  sums  of 
money  to  attract  students. 

"When  in  1916  the  French  military  authorities  established  an 
Albanian  civil  government,  the  Albanian  police  and  the  Albanian 
Courts  were  prosecuting  and  condemning  the  citizens  of  Korytsa 
for  the  most  insignificant  exhibition  on  the  part  of  these  of  their 
Hellenic  sentiment.  The  Albanian  gendarmarie  consists  of  the  lowest 
types,  formerly  highway  robbers  and  thieves,  because  no  honest  citi- 
zen of  Korytsa  would  agree  to  serve  in  their  ranks.  In  spite  of  every 
kind  of  oppression  on  the  part  of  the  artificial  Albanian  civil  author- 
ities, the  citizens  of  Korytsa  persist  in  their  convictions  in  considering 
themselves  Greeks,  and  are  day  by  day  expecting  the  arrival  of  the 
Greek  troops.  The  Albanian  gendarmarie  has  become  a  veritable 
tyrannical  force.  Under  its  auspices,  a  black-hand  society  has  been 
organized,  which  was  responsible  for  the  assassination  of  the  super- 
intendent of  the  Greek  schools  of  Korytsa,  late  Guini,  last  March. 
During  the  first  days  of  last  September  it  was  rumored  that  this 
black-hand  society  would  throw  bombs  into  the  Greek  schools  with 
the  purpose  of  intimidating  the  parents  not  to  send  their  children 
to  the  Greek  schools.  The  French  authorities  took  drastic  measures 
and  frustrated  the  Albanian  attempt.  In  retaliation  for  this  action 
of  the  French  authorities,  the  Albanian  black-hand  society  twice 
attempted  to  blow  up  the  Headquarters  of  the  French  Governor. 
The  assassin  was  seized  and  sent  to  Salonica.  In  spite  of  all  these 
hardships  and  intimidations,  the  Greek  schools  are  filled  to  capacity 
with  scholars  of  both  sexes. 

"Fortunately,  the  French  Military  Governor  has  begun  lately  to 
take  serious  measures  to  insure  security  of  life  for  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  District  of  Korytsa. 

"Very  soon  I  shall  cable  you  information  about  the  schools  out- 
side of  Korytsa  where  the  Greek  sentiment  is  prevalent.  I  shall  also 
enumerate  the  murders  and  assassinations  which  the  Albanian  gen- 
darmarie has  committed  against  the  Hellenic  population.1 

(Signed)    "Adamides." 

1  See  Appendix  9. 

15 


(9)  The  accusation  that  our  revolution  in  1914  against  Albania 
was  fictitious,  we  pass  as  unworthy  of  reply.  The  fact  that  the 
Great  Powers  met  our  representatives  at  Corfu  in  1914,  and  nego- 
tiated with  them  the  Pact  of  Corfu,  in  which  Northern  Epirus, 
Korytsa  included,  was  recognized  as  Greek  in  every  respect,  proves 
sufficiently  the  genuineness  of  our  revolution  against  Albania. 

(10)  Finally,  the  accusation  that  our  Pan-Epirotic  Union  in 
America  is  governed  by  men  who  are  not  from  Korytsa  nor  from 
Northern  Epirus,  "but  who  are  Greeks,"  is  unfair  and  false.  The 
governing  body  of  the  Pan-Epirotic  Union  consists  of  a  President, 
who  comes  from  Northern  Epirus  (District  of  Delvinon),  a  Vice- 
President  and  a  Secretary  (from  Argyrocastro),  and  four  Trustees 
from  other  parts  of  Northern  Epirus,  such  as  Premeti  and  Himarra, 
and  three  from  Greek  Epirus.  Now  it  is  curious  that  the  Albanian 
memorandum,  while  claiming  that  the  inhabitants  of  Greek  Epirus 
are  Albanians,  denominates  the  members  of  the  governing  Council 
of  the  Pan-Epirotic  Union  who  come  from  Greek  Epirus,  "Greeks."1 

Your  Excellency,  we  have  more  than  once  cabled  to  the  Peace 
Conference  petitions,  imploring  that  a  solution  be  speedily  given  to 
our  Epirotic  problem. 

The  State  Department  in  this  country  is  in  a  position  to  inform 
the  Peace  Conference  as  to  our  numbers  and  the  desire  of  us  all 
for  union  with  the  mother  country,  Greece. 

The  false  representations  of  our  enemies,  we  hope,  will  not  be 
taken  seriously  by  the  Supreme  Council  who  are  to  decide  upon 
our  future. 

Your  Obedient  Servants 

The  Pan-Epirotic  Union  in  America 
N.  J.  Cassavetes,  Director 

1  See  Appendix  8. 


16 


APPENDIX  I 


Christian  Science  Monitor,  October  23,  1919 
GREEK  VIEW   OF   EPIRUS   QUESTION 

Proposal  to  Include  Sanjak  of  Korytza  in  New 
Albania  Is  Condemned  as  Ethnologically  and 
Geographically  Unsound. 

New  York,  New  York  —  All  information  available 
in  reliable  Greek  quarters  goes  to  show  that  the  real 
Greek  view  of  the  northern  Epirus  question  stands 
in  as  great  need  of  being  better  understood  as  does 
the  Greek  view  of  the  Thracian  question.  Here,  as 
in  the  Thracian  question,  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy, 
and  Japan  are  all  agreed  on  a  boundary  line  between 
Albania  and  Greece  in  northern  Epirus  which  would 
run  roughly  from  a  point  on  the  coast  just  northwest 
of  Dryades  to  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Ochida,  and 
would  include  in  Greece  the  sanjak  of  Korytza.  The 
United  States  delegates  at  the  conference  in  Paris 
alone  stand  out  for  handing  over  the  sanjak  of 
Korytza  to  Albania. 

Influence  of  American  Missionaries 

In  opposing  this  view  of  the  United  States  dele- 
gates, the  Greeks  insist  that  the  American  delegates 
are  again  being  influenced  unduly  by  the  American 
missionaries  in  the  sanjak,  who,  for  several  years  past, 
have  been  carrying  on  the  only  Albanian  school  there 
is  in  Korytza,  and  who  quite  honestly,  but,  as  the 
Greeks  contend,  quite  mistakenly,  have  taken  up  the 
position  that  the  people  of  Korytza  are  really  Al- 
banians and  not  Greek  Epirotes.  These  missionaries, 
so  the  Greeks  affirm,  insist  that  the  demand  for  union 
with  Greece,  which  is  everywhere  to  be  heard  in 
Korytza,  is  largely  attributable  to  Greek  propaganda, 
and  that  the  Korytzan  needs  to  be  reclaimed  for 
Albania.  To  this  end  they  have  been  working  for 
some  time,  and  as  one  of  these  missionaries  repre- 
sented the  interests  of  southern  Albania  at  the  Peace 
Conference,  the  Greeks  maintain  that  the  American 
delegates  have  taken  their  views  from  him. 

The  Korytzan  a  Greek  Epirote 

This  view  that  the  Korytzan  is  really  an  Albanian 
and  not  a  Greek  Epirote  is,  the  Greeks  declare,  based 
on  a  failure  to  appreciate  a  very  elementary  ety- 
mological fact.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  of 
northern  Epirus  are  bilingual.  They  speak  an  Al- 
banian patois  in  their  homes,  but  they  read  and  write 
in  Greek,  and,  until  the  inauguration,  some  years  be- 
fore the  war,  of  a  vigorous  Albanian  propaganda 
subsidized  by  both  Italy  and  Austria,  the  northern 
Epirote  never  thought  of  himself  as  anything  else 
but  Greek.  To-day,  the  Greeks  point  to  the  fact  that 
after  IS  years  of  strenuous  labor  the  one  Albanian 
school  in  Korytza  against  the  72  Greek  schools  rep- 
resents the  utmost  that  the  advocates  of  this  theory, 
ignorantly  though  quite  honestly  acquiesced  in  by 
the  American  missionaries,  have  to  show. 


All  this,  of  course,  only  applies  to  the  Christian 
population,  for  the  population  of  the  sanjak  is  about 
equally  divided  between  Orthodox  Greek  Epirotes 
and  Muhammadan  Albanians,  with  a  majority  in 
favor  of  the  Christian  Epirotes.  The  Greeks  claim 
that  with  the  question  of  nationality  so  equally  di- 
vided all  other  considerations,  economic,  strategic, 
and  cultural  would  give  the  sanjak  to  Greece. 


Christian  Science  Monitor,  November  21,  1919 

CLAIMS   OF  GREECE  AND  ALBANIA  TO 
CITY  OF  KORYTZA 

Peace  Conference  Must  Decide  Which  of  the 
Two  Countries  Shall  Own  It  —  Greece  Shown 
to  Be  the  Logical  Possessor. 

By  Special  Correspondent  of  The  Christian  Science 
Monitor. 

Athens,  Greece  —  As  the  Peace  Conference  has 
yet  to  determine  whether  Korytza  and  the  surround- 
ing country  shall  be  owned  by  Greece  or  Albania,  it 
is  a  matter  of  interest  to  study  the  relation  of  this 
city  to  the  surrounding  country.  Korytza  is  a  city 
of  about  10,000  inhabitants,  in  the  vilayet  of  Janina, 
located  in  a  wide  plain  watered  by  the  Devol  River. 
It  was  guaranteed  to  Albania  in  1913  after  the  Bal- 
kan War,  but  as  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  are  Greeks, 
the  minority  being  Albanians  and  Slavs,  Greece  has 
claimed  it  on  the  basis  of  self-determination,  as  well 
as  for  economic  and  strategic  reasons. 

Economic  and  Strategic  Aspects 

In  addition  to  these  facts  the  population  of  Korytza, 
demanding  union  with  Greece,  is  larger  than  that 
wanting  union  with  Albania,  and  culturally  the  Greeks 
there  are  incomparably  superior  to  the  Albanians. 
There  are,  however,  two  other  considerations  affect- 
ing Korytza  of  too  much  practical  importance  to  be 
disregarded,  namely,  the  economic  and  the  strategic 
aspects. 

The  Pindus  range,  running  from  Lake  Ochrida  to 
Thermopylae,  cuts  southern  (Greek)  Epirus  completely 
off  from  southern  (Greek)  Macedonia.  The  commer- 
cial relations  established  from  ancient  times  between 
Greek  and  Serbian  Macedonia  and  Epirus  will  be 
completely  broken  if  Korytza  is  given  to  Albania. 
The  only  commercial  route  between  Janina,  Fiorina, 
Monastir,  and  Salonika  passes  through  Argyrokastron 
and  Korytza.  If  Korytza  is  given  to  Albania,  the 
nine-tenths  of  Epirus  which  will  go  to  Greece  will  be 
cut  off  entirely  from  all  economic  intercourse  with 
Macedonia.  As  a  result  of  this,  both  Epirus  and 
Macedonia  will  deteriorate  economically. 


17 


Cut  off   from  Albania 

On  the  other  hand,  Albania  will  not  gain  econom- 
ically by  the  acquisition  of  Korytza.  A  glance  at 
the  map  will  show  that  the  district  of  Korytza  is 
bounded  on  the  east  by  Greek  and  Serbian  Mace- 
donia; on  the  north  by  the  ranges  of  the  Tomaros 
Mountains,  more  than  7,000  feet  high,  which  render 
communications  impossible  between  Korytza  and 
the  nearest  Albanian  towns  of  Berat  and  Elbasan. 
On  the  west,  Korytza  will  be  bounded  by  Greek 
northern  Epirus,  and  on  the  south  by  Greek  Epirus 
and  Greek  Macedonia.  No  direct  communication 
between  Albania  and  the  district  of  Korytza  can  be 
possible  for  many  years  to  come;  Korytza,  then, 
the  prosperous  district  of  northern  Epirus,  will  be 
isolated.  Its  commerce  will  dwindle  away,  and  the 
city  of  Korytza  will  cease  to  be,  what  it  is  to-day, 
the  thoroughfare  of  all  the  trade  between  Epirus 
and  Macedonia. 

It  is,  perhaps,  in  place  to  state  here  that  northern 
Epirus,  including  Korytza,  is  completely  cut  off  from 
Albania  by  the  Pindus  on  the  east,  by  the  Tomaros 
and  by  the  Acroceraunean  Mountains  on  the  north. 
The  Pindus  range  reaches  7,500  feet,  the  Tomaros 
8,000  and  upward,  and  the  Acrocerauneans  6,700 
feet.  The  only  pass  through  which  northern  Epirus 
communicates  with  southern  Albania  is  a  narrow 
gorge  near  Tepeleni,  wide  enough  to  allow  one  auto- 
mobile to  pass  through  it  at  a  time.  But  the  Tepeleni 
Pass  will  go  to  Greece,  as  it  is  reported  from  Paris, 
and  even  if  Tepeleni  were  given  to  Albania,  that 
pass  is  not  an  adequate  means  of  communication 
between  Albania  and  Korytza. 


Greece  at  a  Disadvantage 

Strategically,  the  exclusion  of  Korytza  from  Greece 
leaves  the  whole  of  Greek  northern  Epirus,  and,  in 
fact,  all  of  northern  Greece  in  the  air  by  cutting  it 
off  from  communication  with  Salonika.  The  great 
trunk  road  from  Santi  Quaranta  to  Korytza,  Mon- 
astir,  and  Salonika  will  be  blocked  to  the  mobiliza- 
tion of  Greek  troops  from  southern  Macedonia.  If 
a  strong  army  is  concentrated  in  Korytza  and  thrown 
against  Epirus,  Argyrokastron  and  Janina  will  be  at 
the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  Greece  will  have  to  dis- 
patch troops  to  Epirus  from  Macedonia  by  a  round- 
about sea  route  from  Salonika  to  the  Corinthian 
Isthmus,  and  thence  to  Preveza  and  Janina.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  Greece  concentrates  a  strong  army 
in  northern  Epirus,  Albania  cannot  hold  Korytza. 

In  conclusion,  then,  Albanian  Korytza  will  mean 
for  Greece  economic  deterioration  of  Greek  Epirus 
and  Greek  Macedonia  without  any  benefit  to  Al- 
bania's economic  condition.  Strategically,  the  loss 
of  Korytza  will  be  for  Greece  a  constant  danger  to 
her  northern  provinces  in  case  Albania  becomes  the 
tool  of  a  great  power.  Or  again,  the  acquisition  of 
isolated  Korytza  by  Albania  may  tempt  the  Greeks 
to  seize  upon  it  without  Albania  being  able  to  pro- 
tect it.  Thus,  an  Albanian  answer  to  the  question  of 
Korytza  would  do  Albania  no  good  and  Greece  much 
harm.     There  seems,  in  this  case,  to  be  a  fortunate 


agreement  between  concrete,  practical  interests,  and 
abstract,  national  ideals  in  a  decision  favorable  to 
Greece. 


Christian  Science  Monitor,  November  25,  1919 

THE   GREEK   CLAIM   TO   KORYTZA 
(Editorial) 

Although  the  claim,  put  forward  by  Greece,  that, 
in  the  final  settlement  of  the  northern  Epirus  ques- 
tion, the  town  and  sanjak  of  Korytza  shall  be  ceded 
to  Greece,  has  support  from  many  sources,  perhaps 
the  one  that  makes  most  immediate  appeal  is  the 
geographical  one.  The  Greek  claim  to  Korytza  on 
the  basis  of  race  is,  of  course,  quite  irrefragable. 
There  is  no  question  with  those  who  know  anything 
about  the  Christian  Epirote  that  he  is  a  Greek  of 
Greeks;  whilst  it  is  a  matter  of  simple  record  that 
of  the  two  races  inhabiting  the  sanjak,  namely,  the 
Orthodox  Greeks  and  the  Muhammadan  Albanians, 
the  Orthodox  Greeks  are  in  a  decided  majority.  From 
a  cultural  point  of  view,  the  ethnological  question 
being  settled  in  favor  of  Greece,  the  claims  of  the 
Greek  are  overwhelming.  All  the  culture  in  the 
sanjak  is  Greek  culture.  Of  the  73  schools  in  Kor- 
ytza, no  less  than  72  are  Greek ;  whilst  the  one  which 
is  Albanian  owes  its  existence  and  maintenance 
mainly  to  the  efforts  of  American  missionaries. 

It  is,  however,  the  "geographic  claim"  which,  other 
things  being  equal,  is  the  most  striking.  From  time 
immemorial,  the  only  road  connecting  the  towns 
and  villages  of  Epirus  with  the  towns  and  villages 
of  Serbian  Macedonia,  as  it  is  to-day,  has  run  through 
Korytza.  Winding  in  and  out  amidst  the  valleys  of 
one  of  the  most  mountainous  countries  in  Europe,  it 
finds  its  way  from  the  Adriatic  at  Prevesa  to  the 
iEgean  at  Salonika.  In  passing  through  Korytza, 
which  lies  at  the  apex  of  the  great  triangle  formed 
by  the  Tomaros  and  the  Pindus  mountains,  this  road 
makes  straight  for  the  only  gap  between  the  two 
ranges,  namely,  that  lying  between  Lake  Orchida  and 
Lake  Presba.  Korytza  has  no  outlet  either  to  the 
iEgean  or  to  the  Adriatic,  except  along  this  road. 
With  Albania,  to  which  the  United  States  delegates 
to  the  Peace  Conference,  alone  amongst  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  powers,  are  desirous  of  uniting  the  san- 
jak, it  has  no  communication  of  any  value  at  all, 
from  a  commercial  point  of  view.  The  only  com- 
munication of  any  kind  is  through  the  Acroceraunear 
and  Tomaros  mountains,  by  a  narrow  road  running 
along  the  banks  of  the  Voiussa  River  as  it  forces  its 
way  through  the  pass  of  Tepeleni.  No  trade  of  any 
importance  has  ever  been  carried  on  over  this  road, 
and  the  people  of  Korytza  have  never  been  accus- 
tomed to  have  much  dealing  with  the  people  at  the 
other  side  of  the  great  barrier. 

An  Albanian  Korytza,  therefore,  must  mean  the 
economic  deterioration  of  northern  Epirus,  artificially 
cut  off  from  its  natural  trade  outlet  eastward.  Whilst 
for  Korytsa  itself,  practically  isolated  at  it  would  be, 
it  could  only  mean  deterioration  also. 

The  whole  proposal  to  hand  over  Korytza  to  Al- 
bania is  based  on  a  curious  misconception,  for  which 


18 


the  American  missionaries  in  the  sanjak  are  largely 
responsible.  The  contention  is  that  the  northern 
Epirote,  inasmuch  as  he  speaks  Albanian,  is  really  an 
Albanian  and  not  a  Greek.  Now  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  in  northern  Epirus  are  bilingual.  They 
speak  an  Albanian  patois  in  their  homes,  but  they 
read  and  write  in  Greek,  and  until  the  inauguration, 
some  years  ago,  of  a  carefully  organized  propaganda, 
subsidized  by  both  Austria  and  Italy,  the  northern 
Epirote  never  thought  of  himself  as  anything  else 
but  Greek.  Such,  at  any  rate,  is  the  Greek  claim, 
and,  whatever  the  rights  of  the  matter  may  be,  the 
72  Greek  schools  in  Korytza  to  the  one  Albanian  is 
alone  significant  evidence  in  support  of  it. 


The  Springfield  Union,  October  30,  1919 

GREECE    AND    KORYTSA 

Her  Claims   in   Northern   Epirus  Intelligently 
Set  Forth 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Union: 

Sir  —  The  average  American  citizen  knows  some- 
thing about  the  claims  of  Greece  to  Thrace.  It  is 
quite  well  known  here  that  of  all  the  delegates  to  the 
Peace  Conference  only  our  own  have  opposed  the 
desire  of  the  Greek  nation  to  annex  the  province  of 
Thrace,  Constantinople  not  included.  Very  few  of 
our  fellow  citizens  know,  however,  that  our  Ameri- 
can commission  has  opposed  the  claims  of  Greece  to 
certain  parts  of  northern  Epirus. 

Northern  Epirus  has  a  population  of  nearly  200,000 
people;  120,000  Christian  Greeks,  and  80,000  Alba- 
nians, mostly  Mohammedans.  It  is  reported  that 
France,  England,  and  Italy  have  recognized  the  right 
of  Greece  over  the  entire  province,  and  that  the 
American  commission  insists  upon  cutting  off  for 
Albania  a  very  important  district,  that  of  Korytsa. 
This  district  has  nearly  93,000  people,  of  whom 
47,000  are  Greeks  and  45,000  Albanians. 

Greece  lays  claim  to  this  district  for  the  following 
reasons : 

1.  The  Greek  element  there  is  at  least  equal  to 
the  Albanian. 

2.  The  Greek  element  is  cultured  and  civilized ; 
the  Albanian,  with  a  few  exceptions,  illiterate,  and, 
like  all  Mohammedan  peoples,  backward  and  cruel. 
The  Greeks  of  Korytsa  maintain  68  Greek  schools, 
attended  by  4,407  scholars.  The  Albanians  in  Korytsa 
receive  instruction  in  only  one  school,  sustained  by 
the  American  Missionary  Board,  and  subsidized 
largely  by  Mr.  Crane,  of  Chicago.  The  attendance  of 
this  school  has  varied  from  60  to  200  scholars  of 
both  sexes.  The  commerce,  the  industries,  and  all 
the  charitable  institutions  of  the  district  are  Greek. 

3.  The  district  of  Korytsa  passes  the  trunk-road 
running  from  Jannina  to  Monastir.  It  is  the  only 
means  of  communication  between  northwestern 
Greece  and  southwestern  Greek  Macedonia.  If  the 
district  of  Korytsa  is  given  to  Albania,  both  Greek 
Epirus  and  Greek  and  Serbian  Macedonia  will  be 
ruined  economically.     Communication  between  Jan- 


nina —  Santi  Quaranta  and  Salonica  will  have  to  be 
effected  by  a  long  sea  route  from  Salonica  around  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth  and  Preveza,  or  around  the  Strait 
of  Corfu  to  Santi  Quaranta.  The  Pindus  Range,  which 
runs  in  a  vertical  direction  from  Lake  Ochrida  to 
the  plains  of  Thermopylae,  completely  cuts  off  Epirus 
from  Macedonia,  except  in  the  district  of  Korytsa, 
where  the  military  road  runs  to  Monastir  through 
the  Devoli  passes. 

On  the  other  hand,  never  have  there  existed  any 
commercial  relations  between  Korytsa  and  Albania. 
This  was  utterly  impossible  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  Akrokerannian  Mountains,  7,500  feet  high,  and 
the  Tomoros  Range,  more  than  8,000  feet  high,  com- 
pletely shut  off  all  northern  Epirus  from  Albania. 
There  is  only  one  narrow  pass  near  Tepeleni  which 
admits  from  time  to  time  caravans  of  donkeys.  Its 
width  is  hardly  sufficient  to  admit  one  automobile 
at  a  time.  And  this  pass  is  to  fall  within  Greek 
territory.  Thus,  if  Korytsa  is  finally  given  to  Albania, 
it  will  be  completely  cut  off  from  Albania  by  the  high 
and  impassable  mountains.  Under  such  conditions, 
Korytsa,  whose  superiority  has  depended  upon  its 
commerce  with  Greek  Epirus  and  Greek  Macedonia, 
will  dwindle  away  economically. 

4.  Finally,  the  cession  of  Korytsa  to  Albania  will 
place  Northern  Greece  strategically  at  the  mercy 
of  any  foreign  army  which  may  be  suddenly  con- 
centrated at  Korytsa.  With  the  Jannina  road  cut 
at  Korytsa,  Greece  cannot  send  in  time  troops  from 
Macedonia  to  defend  Epirus  and  Thessaly  against 
a  sudden  invasion  with  a  base  in  the  district  of 
Korytsa. 

Summing  up,  on  the  principle)  of  nationality, 
Greece  has  a  valid  right  to  Korytsa.  Cession  of 
Korytsa  to  Albania  will  do  no  appreciable  good  to 
Albania,  but  enormous  harm  to  Greece,  both  eco- 
nomically and  strategically. 

Will  our  delegates  expose  Greece,  our  friend  and 
ally,  to  such  perils?     We  cannot  believe  it. 

N.  J.  Cassavetes, 
Director  of  the  Pan-Epirotic  Union  of  America 

Boston,  October  29,  1919. 


Atlantis,  New  York  City,  June  30,  1919 

NORTHERN  EPIRUS  AT  THE  PEACE 

CONFERENCE 

(Editorial) 

Northern  Epirus  is  a  small  province  with  a  popu- 
lation of  nearly  200,000.  It  consists  of  the  following 
nine  districts:  Chimarra,  Delvinon,  Tepeleni,  Argy- 
rocastron,  Leskoviki,  Premeti,  Colonia,  Korytsa,  and 
Starovon  (only  one-half). 

Northern  Epirus  extends,  on  the  Adriatic  from  the 
Bay  of  Phtelia,  opposite  the  Greek  island  of  Corfu, 
to  the  Bay  of  Grammala,  or  an  extent  of  coast  line 
of  nearly  90  kilometres. 

To  the  north,  the  province  is  bounded  by  the 
Acroceraunean  mountains,  which  run  from  Chimarra 


19 


on  the  Adriatic  to  only  five  kilometres  to  the  south 
of  the  Lake  Ochrida,  or  an  extent  of  160  kilometres. 
The  Acrocerauneans  completely  separate  Northern 
Epirus  from  Albania  to  the  north,  these  mountains 
being  in  no  place  less  than  1,050  feet  high.  There  is 
one  small  passageway  in  the  District  of  Tepeleni, 
in  the  valley  of  the  River  Drinos,  which  is  so  narrow 
that  hardly  more  than  two  automobiles  can  cross  at 
the  same  time. 

To  the  east  lies  Greek  Macedonia,  and  to  the 
south,  Southern  Epirus.  Access  to  Northern  Epirus 
can  be  secured  only  through  Greek  Macedonia 
through  the  port  of  Santi  Quaranta,  and  through 
Southern  Epirus.  There  are  no  natural  barriers 
between  Northern  Epirus  and  Macedonia  and  South- 
ern Epirus,  connecting  Jannina,  in  Southern  Epirus, 
Argyrocastron,  Korytsa,  Monastir,  and  Salonika,  or 
Monastir,  Korytsa,  Argyrocastron,  Santi  Quaranta, 
or  Preveza,  Yannina,  Santi  Quaranta. 

Under  the  Turkish  regime,  Southern  Epirus  and 
the  Chimarra,  Delvinon,  Argyrocastron,  Tepeleni, 
Leskoviki,  Premeti  districts  formed  one  province,  the 
Vilayet  of  Yannina.  Korytsa,  Colonia,  and  Starovon 
formed  part  of  the  Vilayet  of  Monastir  in  Macedonia. 
This  political  distribution  of  the  districts  of  Epirus 
into  the  two  vilayets  of  Yannina  and  Monastir  cor- 
responded with  the  economic  needs  of  the  districts. 
Korytsa,  Starovon,  and  Colonia  were  indissolubly 
bound  to  the  Vilayet  of  Monastir  for  their  economic 
development. 

Religion  and  Language 

The  200,000  inhabitants  of  Northern  Epirus  are, 
generally  speaking,  of  two  religions.  Nearly  120,000 
are  Christians,  and  the  rest,  or  80,000,  are  Moham- 
medans. The  Mohammedans  are  Albanians  imported 
into  Northern  Epirus  in  1806-1822  by  AH  Pasha,  who 
strove  by  all  means  to  exterminate  the  Christians 
and  alter  the  Greek  character  of  the  province. 

The  languages  spoken  are  Greek,  an  Albanian 
patois,  and  Vlach.  Of  the  total  120,000  Christian 
population,  nearly  50,000  speak  only  Greek,  the  60,000 
speak  an  Albanian  patois  at  home,  but  speak  very 
well  Greek,  read,  write,  and  carry  on  business  only 
in  Greek;  and  some  10,000  speak  Kutso- Vlach  at 
home,  but  read  and  write  only  Greek,  and  speak 
Greek  perfectly. 

The  Mohammedans  employ  in  the  great  bulk  only 
Albanian,  although  there  are  those  among  them  who 
read  and  write  only  Greek. 

Education 

The  schools  are  all  Greek.  Thus,  in  Chimarra  there 
are  three  Greek  schools  with  14  teachers  and  587 
Greek  scholars.  Delvinon  has  24  Greek  schools,  39 
teachers,  and  1,189  Greek  scholars.  Argyrocastro 
has  86  Greek  schools  with  95  teachers  and  4,365  Greek 
scholars,  71  Greek  priests,  94  Greek  churches,  and  6 
Greek  monasteries.  Tepeleni  has  18  Greek  schools, 
22  teachers,  and  589  Greek  scholars.  Premeti  has  40 
Greek  schools,  45  Greek  teachers,  and  1,189  Greek 
scholars.  Leskoviki  has  34  Greek  schools  with  40 
Greek  teachers  and  1,189  Greek  scholars.     Colonia, 


Korytsa,  and  part  of  Starovon  have  12,500  Greek 
scholars.  The  only  Albanian  school  existing  in 
Northern  Epirus  is  in  the  city  of  Korytsa,  with  from 
60-100  Albanian  scholars  drafted  from  the  entire 
district  of  Korytsa. 

The  city  of  Korytsa  alone  maintains  one  Greek 
college  for  boys  with  100  students ;  one  Greek  Girls' 
High  School  with  750  girls;  two  Greek  kindergartens 
with  700  children.  In  all,  in  a  city  of  25,000  there 
are  2,200  boys  and  girls  attending  Greek  schools, 
where  instruction  in  Greek  is  given  by  10  native 
Greek  professors,  15  male  and  14  female  teachers, 
and  4  kindergarten  instructors.  The  total  appropria- 
tion made  by  the  city  for  this  instruction  was,  in  1914, 
70,000  francs.  The  entire  school  attendance  in  Greek 
schools  for  the  district  of  Korytsa,  was,  in  1914, 
12,500. 

Commerce 

The  commerce  of  Northern  Epirus  is  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  the  Greek  population.  The  merchants 
of  Chimarra,  Tepeleni,  Argyrocastron,  Moschopolis, 
and  Korytsa  do  business  with  Yannina  in  Southern 
Epirus,  and  with  Castoria,  in  Greek  Macedonia,  or 
with  Monastir  in  Serbian  Macedonia  and  through 
Monastir  with  Salonica.  The  good  public  roads  con- 
necting Preveza,  Yannina,  Santi  Quaranta,  Argy- 
rocastron, Korytsa,  Monastir,  Salonica,  make  North- 
ern Epirus,  from  the  commercial  point  of  view,  in- 
dissolubly bound  on  the  one  hand  to  Greek  Southern 
Epirus,  and  on  the  other  to  Serbian  and  Greek 
Macedonia. 

There  is  only  one  possible  commercial  route  to 
Albania,  that  is  the  narrow  pass  in  the  district  of 
Tepeleni  in  the  course  of  the  River  Drinos.  This 
route  has  been  opened  by  the  Italians  since  1915. 
Previous  to  this  year  there  was  no  direct  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  cities  of  Northern  Epirus 
and  Southern  Albania.  This  route  connects  Santi 
Quaranta.  Argyrocastron  and  Valona,  Korytsa  which 
has  been  occupied  by  the  French  is  still  isolated 
from  Southern  Albania. 

Owing  to  lack  of  means  of  communication,  if  the 
districts  of  Chimarra,  Tepeleni,  and  Argyrocastron 
are  given  to  Greece,  as  it  is  already  announced,  and 
Korytsa  is  allotted  to  the  prospective  state  of  Al- 
bania, the  entire  district  of  Korytsa  will  dwindle  away 
into  insignificance.  For,  this  fertile  district  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  high  and  impassable  mountains 
will  not  have  connections  with  Berat  and  Elbassan  to 
the  north.  On  the  east  there  will  be  Serbia  and 
Greece,  on  the  south  Greece,  and  on  the  west  again 
Greece.  If  Korytsa  is  given  to  Albania,  not  it  alone, 
but  also  the  entire  province  of  Northern  Epirus  will 
suffer  economic  deterioration.  For,  the  entire  Prov- 
ince of  Epirus,  Northern  and  Southern,  was  depend- 
ing on  Macedonia  and  Salonica  for  a  very  great  por- 
tion of  its  business.  The  connection  of  Epirus  with 
Macedonia  is  effected  only  through  the  Yannina- 
Argyrocastro-Korytsa  road.  By  giving  Korytsa  to 
Albania,  and  Argyrocastron  to  Greece,  the  natural 
links  between  Epirus  and  Macedonia  are  broken,  and 
Epirus  and  Macedonia  will  suffer  economically.  Not 
only  culturally  and  ethnologically,  but  also  economic- 
ally Korytsa  must  remain  either  a  part  of  Macedonia, 
or  a  part  of  the  entire  and  undivided  Epirus. 


20 


Future  Disposition  of  Northern  Epirus 

Mr.  Venizelos  has  asked  that  the  entire  province 
of  Northern  Epirus  be  given  to  Greece.  This  prov- 
ince, in  1913,  on  the  insistence  of  Austria  and  Italy, 
was  annexed  to  Albania.  The  Greek  troops  which 
had  occupied  it  in  1913  were  ordered  to  evacuate  it. 
Upon  the  evacuation  of  the  province  by  the  Greek 
troops,  the  Albanians  entered  the  city  of  Korytsa.  A 
struggle  ensued.  The  native  citizens  refused  to  sub- 
mit to  the  motley  forces  of  Prince  William  of  Wied. 
More  than  200  citizens  of  Korytsa  were  killed  in  the 
fighting  in  the  streets.  The  Epirotes  of  the  district 
of  Premeti  rose  and  defended  their  district  against 
the  invasion  of  the  Moslem  tribes  from  Central  Al- 
bania. Then  followed  the  Chimarriotes,  and  in  less 
than  one  month  the  entire  province  of  Northern  Epi- 
rus was  aflame  with  the  spirit  of  revolt  against  the 
Albanians.  After  nearly  nine  months  of  fighting  the 
Albanians  were  forced  to  retire,  and  the  Great  Powers 
through  the  protocol  of  Corfu,  in  1914,  recognized 
the  complete  autonomy  of  the  Northern  Epirotes. 

In  the  fall  of  1914,  after  the  beginning  of  the  great 
war,  the  Powers  asked  Mr.  Venizelos  to  reoccupy  the 
province.  The  inhabitants  gladly  hauled  down  their 
autonomy's  flag  and  hoisted  the  Greek  flag,  declaring 
their  union  with  Greece. 

In  1915,  Italy  occupied  the  province  and  drove 
away  the  Greeks;  abolished  the  Greek  language, 
closed   the    Greek  schools;    drove   out   the   Greeks 


priests  and  proclaimed  Northern  Epirus  a  part  of 
Albania  and  Albania  under  Italian  protection. 

The  inhabitants  of  Northern  Epirus  are  divided  in 
their  aspirations.  One  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
of  them,  the  Christians,  the  merchants,  the  cultured 
class,  declare  that  they  will  not  submit  to  Albania 
and  demand  union  with  Greece.  The  minority  of 
nearly  80,000  Albanians  (mostly  Moslems)  desires 
union  with  the  Mohammedan  state  of  Albania. 

The  news  from  Paris  is  that  the  districts  of  Chi- 
marra,  Delvinon,  Premeti,  Tepeleni,  Leskoviki,  and 
Argyrocastron  have  been  recognized  as  Greek.  The 
American  delegates  expressed  themselves  in  favor 
of  Korytsa  being  included  in  Albania,  claiming  that 
Korytsa  is  the  centre  of  Albanian  culture.  Now  Ko- 
rytsa, as  stated  before  in  this  study,  has  only  one 
Albanian  school  run  by  the  American  missionary, 
Reverend  Kennedy.  Its  attendance  is  from  60  to  100, 
whereas  the  native  Greeks  of  Korytsa  maintain  their 
own  schools  with  an  attendance  of  2,200  Greek  pupils 
for  the  city,  and  12,500  Greek  pupils  for  the  entire 
district.  If  it  is  claimed  that  Korytsa  is  a  centre  of 
Albanian  culture  because  of  the  solitary  Albanian 
school  there,  how  can  our  delegates  ignore  the  fact 
that  Korytsa  has  been  for  nearly  two  centuries  the 
greatest  centre  of  Greek  culture? 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  delegates  will  accede  to 
the  just  claim  of  Mr.  Venizelos  and  give  the  entire 
Northern  Epirus  to  Greece. 


APPENDIX  II 


Contemporary  Review,  No.  641,  May,  1919 

NORTHERN  EPIRUS:  AN  IMPORTUNATE 
QUESTION 

There  are  so  many  interesting  new  questions  just 
now  that  people  have  got  no  time  to  spare  for  the 
old  ones,  which  are  dull  because  they  are  old.  But 
many  of  the  dull  old  questions  still  are  unsettled,  and 
ready  to  come  and  put  themselves  to  us  in  the  most 
embarrassing  way  if  they  consider  themselves  neg- 
lected for  younger  and  fresher  rivals.  The  ques- 
tion of  Northern  Epirus  is  one  of  them.  It  is  an 
old  question  enough,  but  not  really  dull.  Age  can- 
not wither  it,  nor  custom  stale.  Until  it  succeeds  in 
getting  itself  answered  it  will  go  on  putting  itself  to 
Europe  in  its  youthful  way  about  once  a  year,  in 
the  shape  of  a  local  war  or  a  revolution.  It  would 
probably  save  time  and  trouble  in  the  long  run  if 
the  Conference  could  spare  a  minute  to  provide  it 
at  last  with  the  answer  for  which  it  has  so  long  been 
asking.  It  must,  of  course,  be  the  right  answer. 
Often  and  often  have  the  bothered  Powers  tried  to 
pacify  the  importunate  question  with  the  wrong  an- 
swer, and  the  question  has  always  refused  to  be 
pacified,  and  organised  another  "outbreak." 

What  is  the  question?  It  is  the  question  of  the 
political  destiny  of  a  strip  of  mountain,  vale,  and 
hill  about  forty  miles  wide,  that  forms  the  northern 
part  of  the  province  of  Epirus  opposite  Corfu.  There 
are  two  important  towns  in  it,  Argyrocastro  and  Cho- 


ritsa,  and  a  port,  Santa  Quaranta,  and  it  has  a  popu- 
lation, mostly  village-dwelling,  of  about  230,000. 
Turkey  had  it  before  the  first  Balkan  war,  and  now 
Greece  and  Albania  both  claim  it  and  that  is  the 
question.  It  is  not  really  dull,  because  230,000  hardy 
warfaring  peasants  are  not  likely  to  allow  a  question 
to  be  dull  which,  they  believe,  deeply  affects  their 
spiritual  and  material  welfare. 

In  an  interesting  article  about  "Albania  at  the 
Peace  Conference,"  in  the  April  number  of  this  Re- 
view, Mr.  H.  Charles  Woods  gives  the  question  a 
simple  and  a  summary  answer.  "Greece,"  he  writes, 
"animated  largely  by  nationalistic  motives,  but  also 
partly  by  a  desire  to  secure  the  port  of  Santa  Quar- 
anta and  its  hinterland,  ...  is  endeavoring  to  extend 
her  northwestern  frontier  at  the  expense  of  Al- 
bania." There,  certainly,  is  the  matter  in  a  nutshell. 
At  least,  there  certainly  is  a  nutshell,  and  there  is 
something  inside  it,  but  there  may  be  a  doubt  re- 
maining whether  what  is  inside  it  is  the  matter  in 
question.  Are  we  not  all  vociferously  agreed  now- 
adays that  the  political  destiny  of  a  country  should 
be  decided,  not  by  the  wishes  of  neighbouring  States, 
but  by  those  of  its  inhabitants  ?  Shall  we  not  be  more 
up  to  date,  then,  if  we  say  that  the  answer  to  the 
question  of  Northern  Epirus  is  not  to  be  found  by 
reference  to  the  ambitions,  legitimate  or  illegitimate, 
of  Greece  or  of  Albania,  but  by  reference  to  one  thing 
only,  the  wishes  of  the  Northern  Epirotes?  If  we  do 
say  so,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  find  so  simple  or  so 


21 


summary  an  answer  as  that  of  Mr.  Woods,  because 
the  population  of  Northern  Epirus  is  a  mixed  and 
not  a  simple  population ;  but  we  may  have  a  better 
chance  of  finding  the  right  answer. 

What  are  the  wishes  of  the  Northern  Epirotes? 
They  have  never  been  expressed,  directly  by  a 
plebiscite,  and  perhaps  they  never  can  be.  To  get 
a  fair  plebiscite  there  it  would  be  necessary  to  shut 
every  inhabitant  up  in  a  separate  room  under  an 
adequate  armed  guard  while  he  cast  his  vote.  Evi- 
dence about  their  wishes  must  be  sought  indirectly, 
in  their  racial,  linguistic,  and  religious  characteris- 
tics, and  in  their  recent  history. 

The  inhabitants  are  divided  into  two  camps,  the 
Mohammedan  Albanian  Epirotes  and  the  Orthodox 
Greek  Epirotes.  Between  the  two,  competent  ob- 
servers are,  I  think,  agreed  that  there  is  no  clear 
distinction  of  race.  Amongst  the  Mohammedans 
there  may  be  more  (Albanian)  Tosc  blood,  amongst 
the  Christians  more  pure  blood  of  the  indigenous 
Epirote  race,  which,  it  may  be  said,  it  is  now  very 
difficult  to  distinguish  from  the  Greek  race.  But 
on  the  whole  the  inhabitants  are  all  much  alike  phys- 
ically, and  their  divisions  are  not  due  to  differences 
of  descent.  Language  affords  no  clearer  dividing 
line.  The  Christians  all  speak  Greek,  and  nearly 
all  the  Mohammedans  speak  Albanian ;  but  most  of 
the  Christians  speak  Albanian  too,  and  many  of  the 
Mohammedans  speak  Greek.  Wherever  the  two 
camps  come  into  close  contact,  the  population  is, 
in  fact,  bilingual ;  and  an  observer  of  Albanian  sym- 
pathies who  relied  solely  on  language  as  a  guide 
might  pass  through  the  countryside  and  find  noth- 
ing but  Albanians,  where  an  observer  of  Greek  sym- 
pathies, proceeding  in  the  same  manner,  might  find 
nothing  but  Greeks.  It  is  not  race  or  language  that 
separates  the  camps,  but  religion.  The  most  im- 
portant figures  then  are  these,  that  of  the  230,000 
inhabitants,  120,000  are  Orthodox  and  110,000  are 
Mohammedans. 

The  preponderance  of  the  Orthodox  is  not  very 
great  in  numbers,  but  it  is  very  great  indeed  in  other 
and  even  more  important  matters,  in  culture  and  civ- 
ilisation, in  energy,  in  progressiveness,  and  in  a  con- 
scious spirit  of  unity  and  nationality.  Whenever  the 
country  has  been  left  free  for  a  time  to  follow  its 
own  devices,  this  moral  preponderance  of  the  Ortho- 
dox element  has  always  asserted  itself  in  an  imme- 
diate and  determined  movement  towards  union  with 
Greece. 


•Auticle  6.  —  Italy  will  receive  in  absolute  proprietor- 
ship Valona,  the  Island  of  Saseno,  and  sufficient  territory 
to  ensure  the  military  safety  of  the  possession  thereof. 
It  is  proposed,  for  instance,  that  this  territory  shall  be 
that  extending  as  far  as  the  river  Vojuza  to  the  north  and 
east,  and  to  the  frontier  of  the  Chimarra  district  to  the 
south. 

Article  7.  —  After  having  received  Trentino  and  Istria, 
under  Article  4,  Dalmatia  and  the  Adriatic  islands  under 
Article  5,  and  the  Bay  of  Valona  under  Article  6,  Italy  will 
offer  no  opposition,  in  the  event  of  the  formation  of  a 
6mall  neutral  State  in  Albania,  to  the  possible  wish  of 
France,  Great  Britain,  and  Russia  to  divide  between 
Montenegro,  Serbia,  and  Greece  the  frontier  districts  in 
the  north  and  south  of  Albania.  The  southern  coast  of  Al- 
bania, from  the  frontier  of  the  Italian  territory  of  Valona 
to  Cape  Stylos,  will  be  neutralised. 


Nothing  has  so  much  confounded  counsel  on  the 
Balkan  scene  as  the  digging  up  of  ancient  and  irrele- 
vant history.  Pyrrhus,  Basil  Bulgaroktonos,  and 
Skanderbeg  were  interesting  people,  but  their  interest 
is  for  the  historian,  and  not  for  the  peasant  who 
drives  his  plough  to-day  under  the  hillside  of  Ar- 
gyrocastro.  On  the  other  hand,  in  our  search  for  a 
guide  as  to  that  peasant's  political  sympathies,  we 
cannot  do  better  than  consult  the  record  of  his  po- 
litical actions  in  the  immediate  past.  They  are  not 
at  all  irrelevant,  because  they  are  the  only  means 
that  he  has  had  of  making  his  opinion  known.  The 
story  of  his  recent  doings  is  familiar.  When  the 
Powers  made  an  Albanian  State  in  1913,  after  the 
second  Balkan  war,  they  sent  a  Commission  to  fix  its 
southern  frontier.  The  Commission  decided  to  take 
language  as  a  guide  —  in  a  bilingual  country  I  It 
would  have  been  hardly  less  sensible  to  have  said 
that  they  would  divide  the  inhabitants  into  those  who 
had  a  left  leg  and  those  who  had  a  right  leg.  By 
firmly  closing  their  eyes  to  all  right  legs,  in  other 
words,  by  ignoring  the  Greek  speech  of  all  bilinguals, 
the  Commission  succeeded  in  arriving  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  country  should  belong  to  Albania.  The 
Greek  troops  thereupon  withdrew,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants immediately  rose,  and  declared  Northern  Epirus 
an  autonomous  State  in  sympathy  with  Greece.  After 
some  months  of  fighting  with  the  Albanian  forces, 
they  received,  in  1914,  from  a  Congress  at  Corfu, 
full  recognition  of  their  national  autonomy,  in  formal 
allegiance  to  Albania.  When  the  great  war  began, 
and  Albania  resumed  its  accustomed  anarchy,  North- 
ern Epirus  obtained  the  full  achievement  of  its  de- 
sires in  the  form  of  a  mandate  for  its  occupation  and 
administration  by  the  Greek  Government.  An  un- 
fettered election  was  held,  and  representatives  were 
returned  to  the  Greek  Parliament.  But  this  bright 
chapter  was  soon  to  close.  Real  politik  brought  in  the 
Italians  for  a  military  occupation,  and  the  people 
were  subjected  to  a  new  foreign  domination.  On 
this  last  and  still  unfinished  chapter  of  their  history, 
however,  we  need  not  dwell.  In  view  of  Articles  6 
and  7  of  the  secret  Treaty  of  London,*  nobody,  I 
imagine,  is  prepared  to  contend  that  Italy  has  any  per- 
manent business  south  of  Valona.  What  business  she 
has  at  Valona,  indeed,  is  a  thing  that  we  have  never 
had  explained  to  us,  according,  at  least,  to  the  new 
gospel  of  self-determination.  But  perhaps  it  is  hardly 
a  question  for  us  to  ask.  Italy  can  give  such  a  baffling 
answer  by  a  silent  glance  westward  to  the  Straits. 

On  the  only  recent  occasion,  then,  on  which  North- 
ern Epirus  has  been  left  free  to  follow  its  own  de- 
vices, it  has  immediately  and  with  a  spontaneous 
and  irresistible  motion  swung  right  over  towards 
Greece.  The  autonomous  Government  of  1913-14, 
which  gave  the  impulse  for  the  swing,  was  demo- 
cratic, efficient,  well  organised,  and  progressive.  It 
was  created  and  controlled  by  native  Epirote  patriots 
under  the  leadership  of  M.  Christaki  Zographos, 
himself  of  Droviani.  Its  volunteer  army  was  well 
disciplined  and  led,  and  had  little  difficulty  in  repel- 
ling the  attacks  of  the  Albanian  bands  from  the 
north.  During  a  visit  to  the  country  in  June,  1914, 
I  saw  well-managed  hospitals  and  refugee  camps, 
communications  and  transport  well  maintained,  and 


22 


I  received  a  strong  impression  of  a  people  rejoicing 
in  new-found  liberty,  and  in  the  dawning  hope  of 
advance  in  civilisation  and  prosperity,  given  to  them 
after  so  many  centuries  of  stagnation  and  oppression 
by  the  military  cordon  which  was  protecting  them 
from  their  age-long  enemies  in  wild  Albania.  Safe 
at  last  from  the  north,  all  eyes  were  turned  south 
towards  Greece  in  hope  and  confidence.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  they  are  doing  so  still,  behind  the 
veil  which  the  Italian  occupation  has  drawn  over  the 
country.  If  we  are  to  consider  only  the  wishes  of 
the  people,  it  is  very  clear  from  their  recent  history 
that  we  must  be  prepared  to  give  their  question  a 
Greek  answer.  Language,  race,  faith,  culture,  and 
tradition  all  draw  them  more  strongly  in  that  direc- 
tion than  in  any  other.  Practical  considerations 
draw  them  thither  far  more  strongly  still.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  material  advantages,  which 
State  would  it  be  better  for  them  to  join:  civilised 
and  orderly  Greece,  a  land  of  settled  government, 
or  uncivilised  and  disorderly  Albania,  an  embryo 
in  the  family  of  nations,  whose  separate  existence, 
even,  is  still  for  the  future  to  decide?  The  North- 
ern Epirotes  have  made  up  their  minds  very  defi- 
nitely about  their  answer  to  that  question.  "We 
will  not  be  shut  up  in  a  house  with  savages!"  they 
used  to  say. 

The  question  of  Northern  Epirus  has  been  left  so 
long  unsettled  that  it  has  grown  up  and  had  a  family 
of  little  questions.  The  eldest  of  them  is  the  ques- 
tion of  Chimarra,  a  true  chip  of  the  old  block.  The 
village  and  district  of  that  name  lie  on  the  south- 
western slope  of  the  Chika  (Akrokeraunian)  moun- 
tains, the  range  which  runs  S.E.  and  N.W.  to  the 
south  of  Valona,  and  sticks  out  into  the  Adriatic  as 
the  promontory  of  Glossa.  There  are  about  eighteen 
small  villages  or  settlements  in  the  district,  and 
10,000  inhabitants.  Protected  by  the  mountains  on 
one  side  and  by  the  sea  upon  the  other,  the  Chimar- 
riotes  succeeded  all  through  the  long  centuries  of 
the  Turkish  night  in  maintaining  special  privileges, 
which  amounted  to  partial  independence.  They  were 
governed  by  their  own  chief,  the  Archigos ;  they  were 
exempt  from  taxation  and  military  service;  and  an 
annual  tribute  was  their  only  concession  to  the  nom- 
inal sovereignty  of  the  Sultan.  The  Chimarriotes 
were  the  Suliotes  of  the  North,  less  fortunate,  but 
more  splendid,  in  their  greater  isolation  and  obscur- 
ity. No  Byron  ever  came  to  celebrate  their  long  and 
glorious  struggle  for  freedom.  The  secret  of  their 
indomitable  courage  and  pertinacity  was,  and  still  is, 
a  burning  spirit  of  loyalty  to  their  Greek  nationality. 
Perhaps  they  are  the  descendants  of  some  country- 
men and  contemporaries  of  Ulysses  that  came  to 
these  sea-board  villages  in  ships,  and  drove  the  Al- 
banian natives  back  across  the  mountain  passes 
above.  Knowing  how  ardently  they  love  Greece 
and  Greek  culture,  and  with  what  faithful  devotion, 
century  after  century,  as  long  as  history  can  remem- 
ber, they  have  longed  for  union  with  Greece,  one 
cannot  but  believe  that  the  blood  running  in  their 
veins  is  Greek  blood  of  some  pure  and  ancient  strain. 
When  the  opportunity  of  Northern  Epirus  came  in 
1913,  they  were  the  first  to  seize  it.  Led  by  their 
Archigos,  an  office  now  hereditary  in  the  house  of 


Spiromilios,  they  rose,  proclaimed  the  autonomy  of 
Chimarra  in  alliance  with  M.  Zographos'  Government 
at  Argyrocastro,  and  fortified  their  passes  against 
their  hereditary  enemies,  the  Albanians.  During  the 
struggle  that  followed  they,  in  their  mountains,  were 
the  pivot  on  which  the  left  wing  of  the  Epirote  line 
rested.  Their  privileges  were  confirmed  by  the  pact 
of  Corfu,  and  they  shared  with  their  Epirote  fellow- 
countrymen  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  the  subsequent 
occupations  by  the  forces  of  Greece  and  Italy.  Like 
their  fellow-countrymen,  they  have  now  disappeared 
behind  the  Italian  veil.  Many  of  the  kindly  and 
spirited  men  with  whom  I  sat  in  1914  under  their  fig 
trees  on  the  mountainside  are  now  exiles  on  the 
barren  Italian  island  of  Favignana.  Some  have  died 
there.  It  is  all  rather  hard  to  understand,  when  their 
one  desire  was  to  settle  down  in  peace  and  quiet 
under  Greece. 

"But  things  like  this  you  know  must  be 
After  a  famous  victory." 

One  thing,  however,  is  easy  to  understand,  for 
anybody  who  knows  the  Chimarriotes,  who  has 
watched  with  them  on  their  passes,  and  listened  over 
the  camp  fire  to  tales  of  old  Albanian  wars,  who  has 
been  to  their  schools  and  heard  the  children  singing 
their  Greek  songs  with  a  note  of  passionate  longing 
in  their  voices  that  would  have  moved  a  stone  — 
that  it  would  be  utterly  iniquitous,  and  not  less  in- 
iquitous than  foolish,  to  crush  the  national  aspira- 
tions of  the  Chimarriotes,  and  to  force  them  under 
the  rule  of  a  people  that  they  loathe  and  despise. 

Another  little  question,  the  offspring  of  the  ques- 
tion of  Northern  Epirus,  is  the  question  of  Choritsa, 
in  the  northeast.  The  population  of  70,000  in  the 
city  and  district  of  that  name  is  about  equally  di- 
vided between  Orthodox  and  Mohammedans.  The 
Albanian  language  is  spoken  generally,  but  there  is  a 
strong  Hellenic  spirit,  especially  in  the  city.  Bangas, 
one  of  the  most  munificent  benefactors  of  the  Hel- 
lenic revival,  came  from  Choritsa ;  and  the  citizens 
support  at  ordinary  times  44  Greek  schools,  with 
about  3,500  scholars.  During  the  war  the  district 
has  been  occupied  by  French  forces  from  Monastir. 
When  Greece  was  in  disgrace  because  of  the  per- 
formances of  the  traitor  Constantine,  our  French 
Allies,  with  that  naivetf  which  they  sometimes  dis- 
play in  their  dealings  with  alien  peoples,  established 
a  "Republic  of  Choritsa"  under  Albanian  leaders  an- 
tagonistic to  the  Greeks.  The  result  was  unfortunate. 
The  Albanian  leaders  were  found  to  be  Austrian 
spies,  and  were  shot. 

On  the  principles  of  self-determination,  Choritsa 
is  a  hard  marginal  case.  With  the  population  so 
evenly  divided  between  Orthodox  and  Mohammedans, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  arrive  at  a  just  decision  by 
counting  heads.  If,  however,  we  are  to  consider, 
not  only  the  number  of  heads,  but  what  is  inside 
them,  the  case  for  union  with  Greece  becomes  clearer. 
Here,  as  elsewhere  in  Northern  Epirus,  the  progres- 
sive and  civilising  elements  are  those  that  desire  a 
Greek  future,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
town  will  be  better  off  as  part  of  an  ordered  and 
established  State  than  as  part  of  one  that  is  likely 
for  many  years  to  come  to  be  unsettled  and  turbulent. 


23 


There  is,  however,  another  consideration  affecting 
Choritsa  which  —  although  we  may  admit  that  it  has 
no  relation  to  the  principles  of  self-determination  — 
is  nevertheless  of  too  much  practical  importance  to 
Epirus  as  a  whole  to  be  entirely  disregarded  by  even 
the  most  uncompromising  follower  of  President  Wil- 
son. The  Pindus  range  cuts  Southern  (Greek)  Epirus 
completely  off  from  Southern  (Greek)  Macedonia. 
It  is  not  until  one  has  travelled  as  far  north  as  Cho- 
ritsa that  one  finds  a  way  through  by  the  passes  of 
the  Devoli.  To  include  Choritsa  in  Albania  would 
be  to  cut  off  Northeastern  Greece  from  all  direct 
communication  with  Northwestern  Greece.  A  trav- 
eller from  Janina  to  Fiorina,  for  instance,  would  then 
have  to  go  round  by  sea,  unless  he  were  prepared  to 
ride  over  the  passes  of  Metsovo,  and  I  can  answer 
for  it  that  that  is  not  a  route  that  any  one  would 
care  to  follow  if  he  could  go  any  other  way.  There 
is  no  road,  the  wolves  are  unfriendly,  and  the  hotels 
are  not  good.  Inhabitants  of  a  level  land  like  ours 
can  hardly  realize  how  vitally  such  a  matter  as  this 
may  affect  the  inhabitants  of  a  mountainous  land. 
For  them,  access  to  a  pass  may  make  all  the  differ- 
ence between  economic  progress  and  decay.  The  con- 
sideration must  be  faced  that  to  cut  Greece  off  from 
the  Choritsa  gap  is  to  inflict  a  grave  material  injury 
upon  the  whole  of  her  northern  territories.  That 
should  not,  no  doubt,  be  allowed  to  weigh  in  the  bal- 
ance were  the  national  sympathies  of  Choritsa  quite 
clear.  But  since  consideration  of  her  sympathies 
leaves  the  balance  trembling,  perhaps  the  practical 
consideration  may  not  unreasonably  be  thrown  in  to 
tip  the  scale. 

To  give  the  Greek  answer  to  the  question  of 
Northern  Epirus  does  not  imply  any  hostility  on  the 
part  of  the  giver  towards  the  Albanians.  On  the 
contrary,  it  would  surely  be  far  better  for  Albania 


as  well  as  for  everybody  else  that  Northern  Epirus 
should  be  left  outside  her  future  borders.  She  has 
troubles  enough  before  her,  and  the  worst  of  her 
troubles  will  be  her  lack  of  homogeneity.  The  future 
has  yet  to  show  what  form  of  government  can  be 
devised  to  keep  the  internal  peace  between  the  moun- 
tain clans,  between  Catholic  and  Mohammedan  Ghegs, 
and  Mohammedan  and  Orthodox  Toscs,  and  the  ex- 
ternal peace  between  Albanians,  Serbs,  and  Greeks. 
Whatever  the  Government  may  be,  it  will  have  no 
bed  of  roses.  Surely  they  are  not  very  prudent 
friends  of  Albania  who  would  have  her  add  to  her 
many  troubles  an  alien  population  of  at  least  120,000 
souls,  all  inspired  with  an  ardent  nationalism  that 
for  centuries  has  been  in  direct  and  bitter  opposition 
to  her  own,  all  seeking  the  first  opportunity  of  break- 
ing free  from  her,  and  bent  on  giving  her  all  the 
trouble  that  they  can  in  the  meanwhile.  The  equi- 
librium would  be  hopelessly  unstable.  There  are  in 
any  case  45,000  Greeks  in  admittedly  Albanian  dis- 
tricts north  of  Northern  Epirus,  and  that  should  be 
enough  for  Albania  to  go  on  with.  She  will  have 
enough  ready-made  domestic  troubles  without  adding 
to  them  the  troubles  incidental  to  an  imperialist 
policy. 

The  Northern  Epi  rotes,  it  would  seem,  have  given 
a  very  clear  Greek  answer  to  their  question  in  the 
revolution  of  1914;  and  it  is  the  answer  that  one 
would  expect  from  their  interests,  characteristics  and 
traditions.  An  Albanian  answer  would  do  Albania 
no  good  and  Greece  much  harm.  There  seems  in  this 
matter  to  be  a  fortunate  agreement  between  concrete 
practical  interests  and  abstract  national  ideals.  Might 
not  the  Conference,  then,  pluck  up  heart  and  set  the 
uneasy  question  of  Northern  Epirus  at  rest  with  the 
answer  that  it  has  so  long  desired? 

E.  Hilton  Young. 


APPENDIX  III 


Chicago  Daily  News,  July  21,  1919 

SCHOOLS   IN   KORYTSA 

We  read  a  letter  by  an  Albanian  gentleman  in 
the  Daily  News  of  July  11,  in  which  he  takes  ex- 
ception to  an  assertion  about  the  schools  of  Korytsa. 
He  admits  that  there  are  120  Greek  schools  in  the 
district  of  Korytsa ;  he,  moreover,  does  not  deny  that 
the  teaching  is  exclusively  Greek,  and  that  there  is 
an  Albanian  school  with  an  attendance  of  from  60 
to  200  pupils,  where  the  teaching  is  exclusively  Al- 
banian, and  where  Greek  is  not  permitted.  But  he 
claims  that  the  pupils  are  Albanians. 

Why  should  Albanians  support  120  Greek  schools 
and  only  one  Albanian  school?  Why  should  more 
than  10,000  pupils  of  Korytsa  attend  the  Greek 
schools,  and  less  than  200  the  Albanian  school? 
Would  Americans  support  120  Japanese  schools  and 
only  one  American  if  they  were  really  Americans  ? 

But  the  Albanian  gentleman  claims  that  Albanian 
schools  were  not  permitted  by  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid. 
In  the  first  place,  the  one  Albanian  school  in 
Korytsa  dates  from  the  days  of  Abdul  Hamid ;  and, 


in  the  second  place,  Abdul  Hamid  has  been  out 
of  power  eleven  years.  Korytsa  has  been  under 
French  control  since  1915.  At  that  date  the  French 
authorities  established  the  so-called  republic  of  Ko- 
rytsa. The  inhabitants  were  given  freedom  to  estab- 
lish their  own  national  church  and  schools.  If  the 
inhabitants  of  Korytsa  had  once  been  forced  to  have 
Greek  schools,  why,  since  1915,  have  they  not 
changed  the  Greek  schools  into   Albanian  schools? 

The  attendance  in  the  Greek  schools  of  the  city 
of  Korytsa,  according  to  information  sent  by  the 
American  Red  Cross  committee,  is  2,300  pupils;  the 
attendance  in  the  Albanian  school  is  only  200  pupils. 

I  am  a  Korytsean  and  I  know  that  our  children  in 
the  Greek  schools  are  taught  to  hate  the  Moslem 
Albanians  as  tyrants.  The  pupils  in  the  Albanian 
schools  are  taught  to  hate  the  Greeks.  There  is  no 
love  lost  between  the  Greeks  and  Albanians.  Why, 
then,  should  Albanian  parents  prefer  the  language, 
the  history,  and  the  culture  of  their  enemies  rather 
than  that  of  their  own? 

The  other  day  an  American  general,  Bellis,  visited 
Korytsa.     The  citizens  went  out  to  meet  him  with 


24 


Greek  and  American  flags,  and  shouted  "Long  live 
America !  Long  live  our  union  with  our  mother 
country,  Greece !" 

If  the  Korytseans  want  union  with  Greece,  what 
other  can  they  be  except  Greeks? 

Gregory  Petrou, 

Boston,  Mass.  Native  of  Korytsa. 


Jamestown  (N.  Y.)  Morning  Post,  June  19,  1919 


Goritza,  Albania,  June  18. — (By  Mail) — An  Am- 
erican commission  has  been  here  to  determine  what 
the  opinion  of  the  population  of  Albania  is  with  re- 
gard to  their  national  future.  The  commission, 
which  arrived  soon  after  an  American  Red  Cross 
unit  of  thirty  people  under  Major  Glenfred  C.  Bellis, 
was  received  with  great  enthusiasm. 

Two  thousand  pupils  of  the  Greek  schools  waved 
Greek  and  American  flags  and  cheered  as  the  dele- 
gates entered  Goritza.  Albanian  gendarmes  attempted 
to  prevent  the  pupils  from  manifesting  their  senti- 
ments, but  were  driven  off  by  the  French  authorities. 


Brooklyn  (N.  Y.)  Eagle,  July  10,  1919 

NORTHERN    EPIRUS 

Editor  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle: 

On  the  occasion  of  the  discussion  at  Paris  on  the 
Province  of  Northern  Epirus,  may  we  state  the  case 
in  brief  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  desire  to  know 
the  facts  about  it  ?  Northern  Epirus  has  a  population 
of  200,000,  of  whom  120,000  are  Christians  and  80,000 
Moslems.  The  Christians,  with  a  very  negligible 
number  among  them,  demand  union  with  Greece. 
The  Moslems  prefer  a  Moslem  Albanian  State.  The 
culture  of  the  province  is  Greek.  There  are,  in  all, 
in  Northern  Epirus,  360  Greek  schools,  and  only  one 
Albanian  school  with  an  attendance  of  22,595  for  the 
Greek  schools,  and  only  200  for  the  Albanian  school. 
This  Albanian  school  is  in  the  city  of  Korytsa.  For 
this  reason,  the  Albanians  claim  that  Korytsa  is  the 
center  of  Albanian  culture.  The  city  of  Korytsa 
maintains  one  Greek  college  for  boys,  with  100  stu- 
dents ;  one  Greek  girls  high  school,  with  750  girls ; 
two  kindergartens,  with  an  attendance  of  700  chil- 
dren of  both  sexes.  In  all,  the  Greek  schools  of 
Korytsa  give  instruction  to  2,200  boys  and  girls.  The 
Greek  schools  for  the  district  of  Korytsa  are  120, 
with  180  teachers  and  10,000  pupils.  For  the  same 
district,  the  Albanians  have  one  school  with  200 
pupils.  The  fact  that  the  boys  and  girls  are  sent  by 
their  parents  to  learn  Greek  rather  than  Albanian, 
and  to  study  Greek  history  rather  than  Albanian,  is 
proof  of  the  will  of  the  Christian  Epirotes  to  be 
Greeks  and  to  be  united  with  Greece. 

Peter  Pakdias. 


Springfield  Sunday  Republican,  July  27,  1919 
SAYS  ITALY  OPPRESSES  GREEKS  IN  EPIRUS 

President  of  Greek  Orthodox  Community  Takes 
Exception  to  Charles  Upson  Clark's  Letter  on 
Albanian  Conditions 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Republican: 

May  we  make  a  few  remarks  upon  the  letter  of 
Charles  Upson  Clark,  regarding  the  nationality  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  Korytsa? 

In  the  first  place,  we  notice  with  regret  that  Mr. 
Clark  is  very  inaccurately  informed  on  the  historical 
and  ethnological  facts  dealing  with  Epirus.  He  claims 
that  Jannina  has  been  conquered  by  the  Greeks  and 
Hellenized.  Z.  D.  Ferriman,  one  of  the  foremost 
British  journalists,  who  has  known  Epirus  through 
years  of  travel  there,  writes  in  the  Daily  Chronicle, 
April  17,  1914: 

"When  Athens  was  in  darkness,  the  appanage  of  a 
eunuch  in  the  seraglio  at  Stamboul,  Jannina  was  a 
focus  of  Greek  learning.  It  is  a  matter  of  wonder 
that  Epirus  had  to  wait  so  long  for  her  emancipation 
while  other  regions  which  deserved  it  less  have  long 
enjoyed  it.  Districts  as  Greek  and  as  cultured  as 
Jannina,  Argyrocastron,  Moschopolis,  and  Korytsa, 
where  a  Greek  printing  press  was  established  nearly 
200  years  ago,  have  been  excluded  from  Greece,  be- 
cause a  company  of  gentlemen  seated  around  a  green 
table  in  London  have  drawn  a  line  on  a  map  and 
decreed  otherwise." 

Has  Mr.  Clark  read  Pouqueville,  or  Lamouche 
(whom  the  Albanians  delight  to  quote)  ?  Has  he  read 
Mr.  Rene  Puax's  work,  "La  Malheureuse  Epire,"  the 
correspondence  in  1913  from  Northern  Epirus  by 
Mr.  Butler  in  the  Daily  Mail,  Mr.  Stevens  in  the 
Daily  Telegraph,  De  Jessen  in  the  Matin,  Charles 
Vellay  in  the  Journal,  Magrini  in  the  Secolo,  and  Eng- 
nath  in  the  Koelnische  Zeitungf 

If  he  has  not  read  this  cloud  of  eyewitnesses,  how 
can  he  do  justice  to  a  cause  which  has  cost  the 
Northern  Epirotes  nine  months  of  war  against  Al- 
bania, in  1914? 

Mr.  Clark  ascribes  to  us  "animus  against  Italy." 
We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  Italian  people,  for  whose 
independence,  in  1856,  no  other  nation,  except  the 
French,  did  so  much  as  the  Greek  nation.  That  we 
have  grievances  against  the  imperialist  government 
of  Italy  is  not  a  secret.  All  Americans  know  the 
selfish  foreign  policy  of  Italy.  Every  effort  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Clark  to  whitewash  it  will  only  evoke  the 
pity  of  all  right-thinking  people  for  his  un-American 
taste. 

Mr.  Clark  claims  to  have  received  information  that 
the  Italian  forces  of  occupation  in  Northern  Epirus 
have  not  closed  the  Greek  schools,  and  so  on.  Like 
the  rest  of  his  information,  this,  too,  is  absolutely 
inaccurate.  The  Italians,  since  June  3,  1917,  have 
closed  down  the  260  Greek  schools  in  the  territory 
they  occupied.  They  have  forced  the  parents  to  send 
their  children  to  Italian  schools,  where  the  Albanian 
language  is  taught  only  two  hours  per  week,  whereas, 
the  Greek  language  has  been  altogether  banished. 
The  leaders  of  the  Greek  communities  are  in  prisons 
in  Sicily  and  Tripoli  because  they  have  refused  to  turn 
into  Albanians. 


25 


But  have  the  Italians  been  more  generous  to  the 
Albanians  than  to  the  Greeks  ?  Decidedly  no.  Un- 
der the  title,  "Albanians  kill  officials,  peril  for  Italian 
control,"  the  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Tribune 
sent  on  July  4,  1919,  a  long  cable,  in  which  we  read : 
"Details  which  have  reached  me  from  the  surest 
possible  sources  indicate  the  Italians  are  paying  a 
heavy  price  for  the  privilege  of  occupying  Albania. 
Responsible  men  who  have  closely  observed  the  re- 
cent assassinations  of  Italian  officials  by  Moslem  Al- 
banians, state  that  they  mark  a  sudden  revulsion  of 
feeling  against  Italian  occupation.  Animosity  against 
the  occupants  is  becoming  fiercer  every  day." 

And  now  a  word  as  to  the  inaccuracy  of  Mr.  Clark, 
relative  to  the  Greek  school.  Mr.  Clark  is  using  the 
useless  argument  which  appears  in  every  Albanian 
and  Bulgarian  propagandist  pamphlet,  namely,  that 
the  Greek  schools  in  Korytsa  have  been  forced  upon 
the  natives  by  the  Greeks.  Indeed,  only  Mr.  Clark 
has  dared  to  make  a  statement  that  the  Greek  schools 
of  Korytsa  were  not  built  and  supported  by  the  na- 
tives themselves. 

Korytsa's  schools  were  flourishing  in  the  18th  cen- 
tury, long  before  Athens  had  had  a  single  Greek 
school.  It  is  so  strange  that  Mr.  Clark  does  not 
know  such  a  cardinal  historical  fact! 

Then,  Mr.  Clark  claims  that  Albanian  schools  were 
not  permitted,  and  the  inhabitants  had  to  send  their 
children  to  the  Greek  schools.  Now  perhaps,  Mr. 
Clark  does  not  know  that  there  existed  in  Korytsa, 
under  Abdul  Hamid,  one  Albanian  school ;  that  since 
1915,  when  the  republic  of  Korytsa  was  established, 
the  French  authorities  have  given  complete  freedom 


to  all  races  to  have  their  own  schools.  What  has 
been  the  result  ?  We  read  in  reports  published  in 
numerous  papers  in  America : 

"Goritza,  Albania,  May  19  (By  Mail) — An  Am- 
erican commission  has  been  here  to  determine  what 
the  opinion  of  the  population  of  Albania  is  with 
regard  to  their  national  future.  The  commission, 
which  arrived  soon  after  an  American  Red  Cross 
unit  of  30  people  under  Major  Glenfred  C.  Bellis,  was 
received  with  great  enthusiasm. 

"Two  thousand  pupils  of  the  Greek  schools  waved 
Greek  and  American  flags,  and  cheered  as  the  dele- 
gates entered  Goritza.  Albanian  gendarmes  attempted 
to  prevent  the  pupils  from  manifesting  their  senti- 
ments, but  were  driven  off  by  the  French  authorities." 

The  public  gave  an  ovation  to  the  American  com- 
mittee, and  they  and  their  parents  shouted  "Long 
live  America ;  long  live  union  with  Greece !"  We 
suppose  Mr.  Clark  is  not  in  possession  of  these  facts, 
else  how  could  he  imagine  that  patriotic  Albanians 
would  send  their  children  to  the  schools  of  the  hated 
Greeks,  and  cry,  "union  with  Greece"  ? 

In  the  districts  occupied  by  Italy,  where  the  260 
Greek  schools  have  been  closed,  the  Greek  Northern 
Epirotes  refuse  to  send  their  children  to  the  Italo- 
Albanian  schools.  As  under  the  terrible  days  of 
the  red  Sultan,  the  Greeks  keep  their  schools  and 
churches  in  their  cellars,  because  to  be  a  Greek  and 
to  admit  it  in  Northern  Epirus,  where  Italy  rules,  is 
a  crime  for  which  you  may  be  assassinated.  This  is 
the  case  of  Northern  Epirus  if  Mr.  Clark  cared  to 
learn  and  speak  out  the  truth  like  an  American. 
Respectfully, 

P.  Hector. 


APPENDIX  IV 


Mr.  John  Gorgolis,  June  13,  1919 

1506   Belfield  Avenue, 
Atlantic  City,  N.  J. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  have  investigated  the  religious  and  political  or- 
ganizations of  Atlantic  City,  and  I  find  that  there  is 
no  religious  body  or  incorporation  of  ALBANIANS. 
I  am  veiy  much  in  touch  with  the  religious  life  of 
Atlantic  City,  and  I  am  very  sure  that  the  statement 
I  make  above  is  perfectly  correct. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

H.  M.  Mellen, 

Per  K.  McE. 
Certified  to  by  Harry  Bacharad,  Mayor 


STATE  OF  MAINE 


CITY  OF  BANGOR,   MAINE 
Mayor's  Office 

I,  John  F.  Woodman,  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Bangor, 
hereby  certify  that  there  is  no  society,  association,  or 
organization  of  any  kind  in  this  city  of  Albanians 
so  far  as  I  have  knowledge. 

Dated  at  Bangor,  Maine,  this  30th  day  of  April, 
1919. 

(Signed)     John  F.  Woodman, 

Mayor  of  Bangor. 


Main  Office, 

Stafford  Springs,  Conn. 

THE    FABYAN    WOOLEN    COMPANY 


County  of  Androscoggin, 
State  of  Maine 

This  is  a  statement  of  the  various  estimates  of  the 
Albanian  population  of  the  city  of  Lewiston.  It 
ranges  from  45  to  50  and  as  high  as  60.  Of  these 
there  is  said  to  be  about  15  Mohammedans. 

R.  J.  Lawton, 
City  Clerk  of  Lewiston. 
April  15,  1919. 


Fabyan,  Conn.,  March  25,  1919. 

His  Excellency  Carapanos, 
Paris,  France. 

I,  the  Selectman  of  the  town  of  Thompson  and 
Fabyan,  representing  4,800,  among  whom  there  are 
50  from  the  district  of  Liaskoviki  and  of  surrounding 
towns  of  Northern  Epirus.  They  are  protesting 
against  some  Albanians,  who  sent  a  false  cable  to  the 


26 


Peace  Conference,  stating  that  there  were  not  in  the 
above  towns  anything  but  Albanians,  which  is  not  the 
truth.  They  are  only  Greeks,  their  wish  being  to  be 
united  with  Mother  Greece. 

Signature, 

Leon  N.  Walker. 


To  Whom  It  May  Concern : 

This  is  to  certify  that  to  the  best  of  our  knowledge 
there  is  dwelling  in  Marlborough,  Mass.,  a  total  num- 
ber of  35  Albanians,  no  Mohammedans,  35  Christians. 
There  are  no  societies  with  membership.  There  are 
no  Albanian  communities. 

(Signed)     Charles   F.  McCarthy, 

Mayor. 


Bath,  Maine,  May  19,  1919. 

To  Pan-Epirotic  Union, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Gentlemen : 

This  is  to  certify  that  after  numerous  inquiries 
from  men  in  a  direct  position  to  know,  we,  the  un- 
dersigned, believe  that  there  are  only  33  Albanians  in 
the  city  of  Bath,  Maine. 

Of  these  33,  there  are  20  Christians  and  13  Mo- 
hammedans. 

There  are  several  of  these  men  who  wear  the 
"Vatra  Union"  button.  We  should  say  that  only 
about  half  of  these  people  wear  any  button  at  all. 

There  are  no  Albanian  churches  or  schools  in  the 
city  of  Bath,  Maine. 

J.  G.  Drake, 

Mayor  of  Bath. 
Abram   C.   Oliver, 

City  Marshall  of  Bath. 


To  Whom  It  May  Concern : 

This  is  to  certify  that  to  the  best  of  our  knowledge 
there  is  dwelling  in  Biddeford  and  Saco,  Maine, 
United  States  of  America,  the  said  cities  of  Biddeford 
and  Saco  being  one  community  and  located  upon  both 
banks  of  the  Saco  River,  a  narrow  stream  which  sepa- 
rates them,  a  total  number  of  Albanians  (Moham- 
medans) amounting  to  400,  and  17  Christians;  that 
there  is  only  one  Albanian  society,  viz.,  Vatra ;  that 
the  membership  of  said  society  is  127,  of  which  mem- 
bership 110  are  Mohammedans  and  17  are  Christians; 
that  the  17  Christians  in  said  society  are  from  the 
cities  of  Coritsa  and  Argyrocastron  and  vicinity; 
that  there  is  no  Albanian  community  in  said  Bidde- 
ford or  Saco. 

Edmond  Bergeron, 

City  Clerk  of  said  Biddeford. 

Thomas  Stone, 

Chief  of  Police  of  Biddeford. 

Ernest  H.  Mills, 

City  Clerk  of  said  Saco. 

Justis  B.  Cobb. 


CITY    OF    LOWELL 
Office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Police 

Lowell,  Mass.,  May  6,  1919. 

To  Whom  It  May  Concern : 

This  is  to  certify  that  to  my  knowledge,  I  never 
heard  of  an  Orthodox  Albanian  Church  in  the  city 
of  Lowell,  neither  have  I  heard  of  an  Albanian  com- 
munity organization  in  this  city. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Redmond  Welch, 
Superintendent  of  Police. 


Braddock,  Pa.,  May  21,  1919. 

Pan-Epirotic  Union, 
Boston,  Mass. 

Gentlemen : 

Your  circular  letter  of  April  27th  at  hand  with 
copy  of  despatch  from  Boston  by  the  Orthodox  Al- 
banian Communities  in  the  United  States,  attached. 

On  the  face  of  the  despatch  it  appears  that  dele- 
gates representing  the  above-named  church  from 
Braddock  signed  the  same,  whereas,  upon  investiga- 
tion, we  find  no  church  or  denomination  in  this  town, 
never  has  been  and  not  enough  people  at  the  present 
time  to  organize  any  size  church.  From  personal 
interviews  we  find  a  few  Albanians  in  Braddock,  but 
they  all  deny  allegiance  to  the  church  named  in  copy 
of  despatch.  We  have  a  society  in  this  town  of  about 
80  members  who  profess  to  be  Albanians,  but  who 
are  not  Christians,  calling  themselves  Mohammedans, 
and  they  surely  can  have  no  connection  with  the 
Christian  church. 

From  our  conversations  with  a  few  of  the  leading 
Greek  merchants  here,  we  are  forced  to  express  the 
opinion  that  an  injustice  is  being  done  a  lot  of 
people  who  never  even  authorized  an  expression  of 
their  views  in  the  much  complicated  affairs  of  the 
present  Peace  Conference. 

If  we  can  be  of  any  further  service  to  you  in  this 
matter,  we  are  yours  to  command. 

Yours  very  truly, 

George  Ziacon, 
James  J.  McCarthy, 

Chief  of  Police. 


27 


APPENDIX  V 


4. 


5. 


6. 


105  West  40th  Street  (Room  1204), 

New   York   City,   May   2,    1919. 

His  Excellency  Alexander  Carapanos, 
17,  Rue  Auguste   Vacquerie, 
Paris,  France. 
Your  Excellency : 

After  due  investigation,  we  have  found  the  fol- 
lowing facts  to  be  true  relative  to  the  number  of 
Albanians  in  this  country  (compare  with  table  and 
enclosed  affidavits)  : 

1.  Only  25  of  our  branches  have  hastened  to  reply. 
From  these  25  affidavits  we  gather  that  (1) 
there  are  not  more  than  four  Albanian  Or- 
thodox communities. 

2.  Twelve  States  of  the  Union  are  covered. 

3.  There  are  in  23  cities  enumerated  733  Ortho- 
dox Albanians  and  340  Mussulmans,  or  a  total 
of  1,573  Albanian  natives  of  Northern  Epirus. 
There  are  606  Albanians  outside  the  limits  of 
Northern  Epirus. 

The  total  number  of  Albanians  in  the  23  cities, 
which  are  the  most  important  centers  of  Al- 
banians, rises  in  all  to  2,179. 
The  membership  of  the  Vatra  is  1,204  Albani- 
ans (Christians  and  Mussulmans  from  North- 
ern Epirus  and  from  without). 

7.    There  are  only  16  branches  of  this  society. 

We  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  certain  facts 
which  tend  to  show  that  the  United  States  census 
figures  about  Albanians  are  correct : 

1.  The  other  29  cities  in  the  cable  published  in 
the  New  York  Herald  of  April  1,  1919,  are  places 
where  only  a  few  tens  of  Albanians  are  to  be  found. 
We  shall  report  on  them  at  our  earliest  opportunity. 
We  are  investigating.  The  number  in  these  29  cities 
cannot  be  even  one-half  of  that  in  the  cities  we 
have  tabulated.  But  let  us  give  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  to  the  Albanians,  and  count  as  many  Albanians 
in  the  29  cities  as  there  are  in  the  23.  We  shall  have 
not  more  than  5,000  Albanians  in  the  United  States 
at  the  most. 

2.  In  the  tables,  wherever  a  branch  did  not  report 
the  number  of  Moslems,  we  have  put  the  entire  num- 
ber to  the  credit  of  Christian  Albanians.  And  wher- 
ever there  is  no  mention  as  to  the  native  place,  we 
have  again  credited  the  Albanians  by  placing  the 
number  under  the  column  indicating  natives  of 
Northern  Epirus. 

You  will  see,  then,  Your  Excellency,  that  we  have 
put  everything  so  that  we  may  obtain  the  maximum 
number  for  the  Albanians 


May  we  also  call  your  attention  to  some  methods 
used  by  the  Albanians  in  America  to  deceive  the 
Peace  delegates? 

Cables  have  been  sent,  we  are  informed,  and  signed 
by  would-be  200  Albanians,  whereas  there  were  only 
20  in  that  locality. 

Mussulmans  are  induced  to  sign  Christian  names 
in  order  to  indicate  that  the  Orthodox  Albanians  are 
numerous. 

Five  or  ten  of  them,  as  may  be  easily  seen  from 
the  table,  are  made  to  cable,  to  mislead  the  Peace 
delegates  to  imagine  that  a  large  number  of  Al- 
banians are  sending  the  cable.  We  urge  that  the 
American  delegates  be  asked  to  investigate  both  our 
numbers  and  those  of  the  Albanians.  We  have  al- 
ways tried  to  tell  the  whole  truth,  and  have  often 
stated  much  lower  figures  for  ourselves  than  the 
actual   numbers. 

Your  Excellency  may  perhaps  ask  how  these  few 
Albanians  support  their  propaganda.  I  must  state 
certain  results  of  my  investigation.  Before  the  ar- 
mistice I  was  connected  with  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Justice  (unofficially).  I  was  told  by  the 
Department  of  Justice  that  Rev.  Fan-Noli,  the  leader 
of  the  Vatra  here,  was  in  the  pay  of  the  Austrian 
Government.  This  fact  is  known  to  many  Americans 
in  Boston. 

Italy  was  paying,  through  her  Consulate  in  Boston, 
a  certain  Albanian  from  Korytsa,  Dako.  Such  was 
the  animosity  aroused  between  Fan-Noli  and  Dako 
that  they  attacked  each  other  in  their  newspapers. 
Dako  accused  Fan-Noli  of  being  an  Austrian  agent 
and  Fan-Noli  accused  Dako  of  being  an  Italian  agent. 

The  Department  of  Justice  assured  me  that  both 
were  right. 

Before  the  armistice,  Fan-Noli  openly  prayed  for 
William  of  Wied,  and  said  that  the  only  hope  for 
Albania  was  an  Austrian  victory. 

After  the  armistice,  Fan-Noli  turned  to  Italy,  and 
to-day  the  Vatra  is  taking  a  leading  part  in  trying 
to  exonerate  Italy  from  her  criminal  actions  in 
Northern  Epirus. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  Italy  is  paying  the 
Albanians   in  America. 

Enclosed  kindly  accept  copies  of  cables  sent  to 
President  Wilson  and  to  the  Temps. 

We  will  appreciate  it  if  we  could  learn  of  the 
activities  of  Rev.  Erickson  at  Paris.  We  have  been 
informed  that  the  Board  of  Missions  has  recalled  hiin. 

Respectfully, 
Director  Pan-Epirotic  Union  in  America. 


APPENDIX  VI 


Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 

December  18,  1919 
Worcester,  ss. 

Affidavit  of 
I of  the 


ince  of  Argyrakostro,  North  Epirus,  do,  under  oath, 
depose  and  say  that  Louis  Pantos,  President  of  the 
Albanian  Federation  Vatra,  Worcester  Branch,  who 
is  now  in  Corytsa,  North  Epirus,  offered  me  money 
and  other  emoluments,  if  I,  the  said 


City  of  Worcester,  County  of  Worcester,  Common would  sign  a  statement  that  I 

wealth  of  Massachusetts,  formerly  of  Frastani,  Prov-       was  of  Albanian  nationality  instead  of  Greek  nation- 


28 


ality,  the  said  statement  being  as  of  May  10,  1919, 
in  consideration  of  which  I  was  to  receive  a  lucra- 
tive position  in  Albania. 

In  witness  whereof  I  hereunto  set  my  hand   the 
day  first  above  mentioned.  (1) 


Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 
Worcester,  ss. 

Then,   personally   appeared   the   above-named 

and  made  oath  that  the  above  statement  subscribed 
by  him  is  true  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief. 
Before  me, 

Stephen  H.  Bennit 

Justice  of  the  Peace 
My  commission  expires  January  23,  1925 

Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 

December  18,  1919 
Worcester,  ss. 

Affidavit  of 

I of  the 

City  of  Worcester,  County  of  Worcester,  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts,  formerly  of  Vouno  Province 
of  Chimara,  do,  under  oath,  depose  and  say  that 
Louis  Pantos,  President  of  the  Albanian  Federation 
Vatra,  Worcester  Branch,  who  is  now  in  Corytsa, 
North  Epirus,  offered  me  money  and  other  emolu- 
ments if  I,  the  said 

would  sign  a  statement  that  I  was  of  Albanian  na- 
tionality instead  of  Greek  nationality,  the  said  state- 
ment being  as  of  May  10,  1919,  in  consideration  of 
which  I  was  to  receive  a  lucrative  position  in  Al- 
bania. (1) 


Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 
Worcester,  ss. 

Then,  personally  appeared  the  above-named 

and  made  oath  that  the  above  statement  subscribed 
by  him  is  true  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief. 
Before  me, 

Stephen  H.  Bennit 

Justice  of  the  Peace 
My  commission  expires  January  23,  1925 


Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 

December  13,  1919 
Worcester,  ss. 

Affidavit 


.of. 


in  the  City  of  Worcester,  Ccunty  of  Worcester,  Com- 
monwealth of  Massachusetts,  being  first  duly  sworn, 
deposes  and  says  that  he  was  born  in  Caroci,  Prov- 
ince of  Delvino,  North  Epirus,  that  he  had  been  re- 
quested to  change  his  present  nationality  of  Greek  to 
that  of  Albanian,  and  that  in  consideration  of  same  he 
has  been  offered  a  lucrative  position  and  other  emolu- 
ments if  he,  the  said 

and  other  men  of  his  nationality  from  said  North 
Epirus  would  vote  and  change  into  said  Albanian  na- 
tionality, said  consideration,  promises,  and  induce- 
ments have  been  made  to  me  as  well  as  to  others  of 
said  Greek  nationality  by  Louis  Pantos  from  the  city 
of  Corytsa,  President  of  the  Albanian  Federation 
Vatra,  Worcester  Branch. 

And  the  said  deponent  further  deposes  and  says 
that  said  offer  was  made  to  him  in  the  city  of  Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  May, 
1919.  (1) 


Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 
Worcester,  ss. 

Then,  personally  appeared  before  me  the  said 

and  made  oath  that  the  above  statement  was  made  of 
his  own  free  will  and  absolutely  true  to  the  best  of 
his  knowledge  and  belief. 

John  C.  Mahoney 

Notary  Public 

My  commission  expires  July  1,  1921 


(*)  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Albanians  are  using  vio- 
lent means  for  intimidating  the  Epirotes  who  have  the 
courage  to  sign  the  memoranda  of  the  Pan-Epirotic  Union, 
the  Union  does  not  consider  it  always  safe  to  divulge  the 
signatures  of  those  who  have  given  us  the  affidavits.  The 
original  affidavits,  however,  have  been  deposited  with  the 
State  Department  which  will  be  thus  enabled  to  investigate 
and  establish  the  truth. 


APPENDIX  VII 


STATE    DEPARTMENT 
Washington 

December  19,  1919. 
League  of  Friends  of  Greece  in  America, 
Boston,  Massachusetts 


Gentlemen: 

I  am  sorry  that  I  am  not  able  to  find  the  Albanian 
memorandum  and  signatures  about  which  you  ask. 
(Signed)  Breckinridge  Long, 

Third  Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 


APPENDIX  VIII 


New  York  Times,  July  13,  1919 
DEFENDS    EPIROTES    HERE 

Cassavetes   Says   They   only  Tell  the  Truth 

about  Italy's  Aggression 
N.   J.   Cassavetes,    Director   of   the   Pan-Epirotic 


Union  in  America,  in  a  statement  issued  yesterday, 
took  exception  to  the  assertions  concerning  his  or- 
ganization made  recently  by  Charles  Upson  Clark, 
a  member  of  the  American  Academy  at  Rome. 

"It   is   true    that   our   union,   like   other   national 
unions,  has  been  organized  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 


29 


ing  to  the  attention  of  the  American  people  the  facts 
in  the  case  of  Northern  Epirus,"  he  said.  "We 
know  that  the  people  of  America  want  to  know 
the  facts,  and  we  have  tried  to  the  best  of  our  ability 
to  tell  the  whole  truth  in  our  case.  We  are  striving 
for  liberty.  We  are  endeavoring  to  secure  our  union 
with  our  mother  country,  Greece.  That  is  all  of  our 
terrible  sin  that  has  aroused  the  ire  of  Mr.  Clark." 

Mr.  Cassavetes  said  that  Mr.  Clark  evaded  the  real 
issue,  "which  is  that  Northern  Epirus  is  Greek  in  the 
large  majority;  that  Italy  has  invaded  the  province 
without  a  mandate  from  her  allies." 

"She  had  a  mandate  for  Valona,  but  not  for 
Northern  Epirus,"  continued  Mr.  Cassavetes.  "She 
has  shut  down  260  Greek  schools,  driven  away  the 
Greek  clergy,  exiled  the  leaders  of  the  Greek  com- 
munities, imported  Moslem  Albanians  from  Central 
Albania  to  terrorize  the  Christians  into  Italianization, 
has  founded  Italian  schools,  to  which  the  Greek 
Christians  refuse  to  send  their  children ;  gives  in- 
structions only  in  Italian  and  two  hours  per  week 
in  Albanian,  aiming  at  Italianizing  both  Greeks  and 
Albanians. 

"Are  these  facts,  or  are  they  not?  Let  not  Mr. 
Clark  evade  an  answer  to  these  questions.  That  is 
the  issue. 

"Today  Northern  Epirus  is  not  free  to  express 
its  national  will.  To  speak  Greek  there  is  a  crime. 
To  refuse  to  sign  a  petition  to  the  Peace  Conference 
that  you  want  Italian  rule  constitutes  high  treason 


for  which  you  may  be  assassinated  over  night  by 
the  famous  Albanian  bands  of  Guegaria.  As  to 
whether  or  not  the  Albanians  want  Italian  rule,  we 
state  that  only  a  month  ago  the  Albanian  delegation 
from  America  addressed  a  strong  protest  to  the 
Peace  Council  against  any  Italian  interference. 

"When  Mr.  Clark  makes  the  implication  that  the 
Greek  Government  was  not  tolerant  of  the  Moslems 
in  Northern  Epirus,  he  shows  how  very  little  he 
knows  both  of  Northern  Epirus  and  the  Greek  Gov- 
ernment 

"In  1915  the  British  Minister  went  to  Mr.  Venizelos 
and  asked  him  to  reoccupy  Northern  Epirus  in  order 
that  the  Moslem  Albanians,  who,  after  the  departure 
of  the  Greek  Government  from  Northern  Epirus, 
had  been  driven  out  of  the  province  during  the  nine 
months'  revolutionary  war  against  Albania  by  the 
Northern  Epirotes,  might  return  to  their  homes.  Mr. 
Venizoles  asked  if  Italy  would  consent.  The  British 
Minister  consulted  the  Italian  Government,  which 
agreed  only  under  the  condition  that  Italy  occupy 
Valona.  Now,  Britain,  France,  Russia,  and  Italy,  in 
having  asked  Greece  to  reoccupy  the  province,  knew 
better  than  did  Mr.  Clark  that  the  Greek  Government 
would  be  a  protector  of,  and  not  a  butcher  of,  the 
Moslems.  And  the  Greek  Government  was  so  kind 
that  to-day,  if  the  Italians  evacuate  the  province  and 
the  United  States  occupies  it  for  six  months  and 
applies  a  plebiscite,  the  majority  of  the  Moslems 
would  vote  in  favor  of  Greek  rule." 


APPENDIX  IX 


Korytsa,  Northern  Epirus, 

December  25,  1919 

"Continuing  what  has  taken  place  in  Korytsa,  I 
inform  you  that  the  French  authorities  have  given 
permission,  besides  the  city  of  Korytsa,  to  only  twelve 
Greek  villages  to  open  the  Greek  schools.  These 
villages  are  Darda,  Vithcouki,  Sinitsa,  Viglista, 
Grapsa,  Yourassi,  Polena,  Phloki,  Progri,  Hotsista, 
and  Bratvitsa,  which  had  last  year  1,150  pupils  and 
this  year  many  more.  Twenty  more  Greek  villages 
have  asked  the  French  authorities  permission  to  re- 
open their  schools.  The  French  Military  Governor 
at  Korytsa  receives  daily  such  petitions. 

"The  Albanians  are  employing  a  hundred  ways 
of  forcing  the  inhabitants  to  accept  Albanian  teach- 
ers; but  the  villages  either  drive  them  out  or  leave 
them  without  pupils  and  thus  force  them  to  go  of 
their  own  accord.  The  Greek  population  prefers  to 
have  its  children  remain  illiterate  rather  than  to 
send  them  to  Albanian  schools.  I  give  you  examples : 
In  the  village  of  Zetsista  the  children  refused  to 
attend  school  where  an  Albanian  teacher  was  sent 
by  the  Albanian  authorities  to  teach  the  Albanian 
language.  In  other  villages  where  the  Albanians 
have  imposed  upon  the  Greek  inhabitants  Albanian 
teachers,  these  teachers  have  either  been  forced  to 
abandon  their  posts  or  to  remain  at  them  merely  to 
draw  their  salaries  without  having  anybody  to  teach. 
In  the  purely  Mohammedan  villages  only  a  small 
number  of  Albanian  children  attend  the  few  Albanian 
schools.  You  can  imagine  that  in  spite  of  all  sorts 
of  pressure  exerted  by  the  Albanian  gendarmerie  in 


the  entire  district  of  Korytsa  outside  the  city,  the 
Albanians  have  not  succeeded  in  enrolling  more  than 
700  pupils,  and  they  are  practically  all  Mohamme- 
dans. But  the  Albanians  prepare  false  statistics 
with  the  intention  of  deceiving  the  foreigners  who 
are  ignorant  of  the  local  conditions.  In  Darda  the 
Greek  schools  have  an  enrollment  of  200.  The  Al- 
banian school  only  18 ;  in  Hotsista,  the  Greek  school 
250,  and  the  Albanian  school  last  year  only  10. 
This  year  the  school  has  not  even  opened  its  gates. 

"I  now  come  to  the  question  of  the  Albanian  po- 
lice force.  As  I  have  already  wired  you,  all  the  evil 
elements  of  the  district  have  enrolled  in  the  notorious 
Albanian  police  force.  Not  a  single  decent  citizen  has 
enrolled  in  it.  Only  15  Greeks  serve  as  assistants  to 
the  French  police  force.  The  Albanian  policemen  are 
a  veritable  scourge  to  the  Christian  villages.  Fortu- 
nately, for  some  time  now  the  French  Governor  sends 
French  policemen  to  the  Christian  villages  instead 
of  Albanians  as  before. 

"I  mention  only  a  few  of  the  crimes  committed  by 
the  Albanian  police  force  in  the  last  few  months  un- 
der the  very  eyes  of  the  so-called  Albanian  Govern- 
ment in  Korytsa.  The  Moslem  Albanian  Corporal 
Safetk  Potomi,  killed  in  Darda  on  the  20th  of  June, 
the  Greek  Kolia  Pappas.  This  policeman  was  cap- 
tured and  imprisoned,  but  was  very  soon  released 
with  the  assistance  of  his  Albanian  colleagues.  The 
same  policeman  killed  on  the  7th  of  September  the 
Greek  Constantine  Polica,  and  wounded  many  others. 
The  Moslem  Albanian  policeman,  Ahous  Souleiman, 
attempted,  on  the  25th  of  August,  to  assassinate  in 


30 


the  city  of  Korytsa  the  Greek  S.  Panarite,  who  re-  "In  another  message  I  intend  to  inform  you  how 
fceived  two  bullets,  but  has  escaped  death.  The  Al-  the  Albanian  Club  of  Korytsa  spread  out  false  news 
banian  policeman,  Tsanl,  was  sent  by  his  superiors  of  a  reported  advance  of  the  Greek  troops  in  Ko- 
to escort  the  Greek  merchant,  Kalemeran,  from  the  rytsa.  This  same  club  urged  500  Albanians  who  had 
village  Dousari  to  the  village  Gergevitsa.  The  said  been  more  or  less  implicated  in  activities  against  the 
Albanian  policeman,  having  understood  that  the  Greeks  to  run  away  from  Korytsa  and  telegraphed  to 
Greek  merchant  was  carrying  money  with  him,  killed  Europe  that  15,000  Albanians  had  fled  from  Korytsa. 
him.  The  murders  and  assassinations  committed  by  "(Signed)  Adamides." 
the  members  of  the  Albanian  police  force  are  very 
numerous  to  be  enumerated. 


31 


ft  V 

3  *»  "° 


Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros. 

Maker* 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

NT.  JA*  21,  190* 


57207fi 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


